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Then Agrippa said unto Paul, 
Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. 

Acts xxvi. '28. 



PUBLISHED BY LEWfS COLBY, NEW YORK. 



/^J. 



THE 



ALMOST CHEISTIAI 



DISCOVERED; 



OR, THE 



FALSE PROFESSOE TRIED AND CAST. 







BY THE 

REV. MATTHEW MEAD. 



WITH AN INTRODUCTION 

BY WILLIAM R. WILLIAMS, 

PASTOR OF THE AMITY STREET BAPTIST CHURCH, N. Y 



NEW YORK: 

PUBLISHED BY LEWIS COLBY, 

122 NASSAU STREET. 



1850. .r 



<s 







^^^ . I <? . /rs-r. 










Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1850, 

BY LEWIS COLBY, 

In the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New York. 



The Library 

of Congress 

washington 



THOMAS B. SMITH, STEREOTYPER, 
216 WILLIAM STREET, N. Y. 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

Dedication, 5 

To the Reader, 11 

Introduction, 21 

QUEST. I. How far a man may go in the way to 
heaven, and yet be but almost a Christian ; this 
shown in twenty several steps, . . . .41 

Sect. I. A man may have much knowledge, and yet 
be but almost a Christian, 41 

Sect. II. A man may have great and eminent gifts ; 
yea, spiritual, and yet be but almost a Christian, . 44 

Sect. III. A man may have a high profession of re- 
ligion, be much in external duties of godliness, and 
yet be but almost a Christian, . . . .50 

Sect. IV. A man may go far in opposing his sin, and 
yet be but almost a Christian, . . . .58 

Sect. V. A man may hate sin, and yet be but al- 
most a Christian, 61 

Sect. VI. A man may make great vows and prom- 
ises, strong purposes and resolutions against sin, 
and yet be but an almost Christian, . . .10 

Sect. VII. A man may maintain a strife and combat 
against sin and himself, and yet be but almost a 
Christian, 74 

Sect. VIII. A man may be a member of the church 
of Christ, and yet be but almost a Christian, . 82 

Sect. IX. A man may have great hopes of heaven, 
and yet be but almost a Christian, . . .84 

Sect. X. A man may be under visible changes, and 
yet be but almost a Christian, . . . .87 



IV CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Sect. XL A man may be very zealous in matters of 
religion, and yet be but almost a Christian, . .92 

Sect. XII. A man may be much in prayer, and yet 
be but almost a Christian, 100 

Sect. XIII. A man ma} r suffer for Christ, and yet be 
but almost a Christian, 105 

Sect. XIV. A man may be called of God and em- 
brace his call, and yet be but an almost Christian, 107 

Sect. XV. A man may have the Spirit of God, and 
yet be but almost a Christian, . . . .110 

Sect. XVI. A man may have faith, and yet be but 
almost a Christian, 113 

Sect. XVII. A man may have a love to the people 
of Cod, and yet be but almost a Christian, . .118 

Sect. XVIII. A man may obey the commands of 
God, and yet be but almost a Christian, . .123 

Sect. XIX. A man may be sanctified, and yet be but 
almost a Christian, 128 

Sect. XX. A man may do all (as to external duties 
and worship) that a true Christian can, and yet be 
but almost a Christian, 132 

QUEST. II. Whence is it that many go far and yet 
no farther? 138 

What difference between a natural conscience and 
a renewed conscience ? — answered in several par- 
ticulars, 143 

QUEST. III. Whence is it that many are but almost 
Christians, when they have gone thus far \ . .159 

QUEST. IV. What is the reason that many go no 
farther in the profession of religion, than to be 
almost Christians ? 170 

Application, 179 

Use of Examination, 184 

Use of Caution, . 197 

Use of Exhortation 212 



1 



PKEFATORY NOTE. 



It can scarce be needed, for most of the read- 
ers into whose hands this volume may come, to 
commend a writer so well known as the Noncon- 
formist worthy, Matthew Mead, or to bespeak 
respectful and devout perusal for a book, so long 
and widely circulated, and so greatly useful, as 
has been his treatise, " The Almost Christian. " 

He was of the times of Owen, Bunyan, and 
Baxter. How high a place the man and his 
writings occupied, in the esteem of the eminent 
author of the " Call to the Unconverted," 
and of the " Saints' Best," a single reference 
may sufficiently prove.. In the great work of 
Bichard Baxter, on the morals and casuistry of 
the gospel, his " Christian Directory," he fur- 
nishes lists of volumes suitable to form the library 
of a Christian. Classifying his catalogues ac- 
cording to the probable extent of the means, that 

1* 



VI PREFATORY NOTE. 

various classes of his readers would possess for 
the purchase of books, he begins with those pur- 
chasers of most limited resources. " I will name 
you, first," (says Baxter) "the poorest or small- 
est library that is tolerable." Enumerating as 
its basis, a Bible, Concordance, and Catechisms, 
he proceeds to name some scores of writers on 
practical religion. In some cases he commends 
but a single treatise of an author, and in others, 
his entire writings ; this latter and higher honor, 
he accords to his contemporary and fellow-con- 
fessor, Matthew Mead. Among the " affection- 
ate practical English writers," as he describes 
them, and of which he advise^ the poor man to 
secure " as many of them as you can get,"* he 
places " Mr. Head's works" To those remem- 
bering the practised sagacity, the long and varied 
experience, the discursive reading, and the pro- 
found piety of the Kidderminster pastor, nothing 
need be said as to the value of his commenda- 
tion, in favor of the character, or the composi- 
tions, to which it may be given. 

But Mead had other and not less eminent 
friends, among the great and good men of the 
Commonwealth and Protectorate. By the ap- 

* Baxter's Practical Works, Orme's Ed. vol. v. pp. 585, 
586. 



PREFATORY NOTE. Vll 

pointment of Oliver Cromwell himself, he held 
the New Chapel at Shadwell, in Middlesex. On 
the fatal St. Bartholomew's day, he was ejected 
thence, among those illustrious nonconformist 
confessors, whose praises even the poet Words- 
worth, attached as he is to the English Estab- 
lished Church, could not forbear to sing. In 
one of his ministerial charges, he had been asso- 
ciated with Greenhill, the author of a commen- 
tary on Ezekiel, of high repute. After some 
liberty granted to the Dissenters, he was a 
preacher at Stepney, where a large congregation 
gathered around him ; and where, in 1674, a 
spacious house of worship was erected for their 
use. Accused, with the excellent Dr. Owen and 
others, of some participation in that Rye House 
Plot, for which Lord William Russel suffered 
death, Mead retired for a time to Holland, though 
conscious of entire innocence ; but returned to 
Britain, and continued his labors until his death, 
October 16, 1699, at the age of seventy. His 
funeral sermon was delivered by the great John 
Howe, with whom his friendship stretched over 
more than half a life-time, having, as Howe de- 
clared, continued through some forty-three years. 
When asked, in his last sickness, how he was, his 
reply had the quaint, but earnest simplicity of 



Vlll PREFATORY NOTE. 

one to whom the New Jerusalem had long been 
the theme of familiar and habitual aspirations : 
" Going home, as every honest man ought, when 
his work is done" One of his sons was Dr. 
Richard Mead, the contemporary of Addison and 
Pope, eminent in the medical annals of England, 
and author, amongst other works, of a book on 
the diseases named in Scripture, " De Morbis 
Biblicis ;" a topic, to the selection of which the 
memory of his excellent parent, and of the pur- 
suits of that father, may have first directed him. 
One of the sermons, in the collection often re- 
printed of Farewell Discourses by the Ejected 
Ministers of 1662, is by Matthew Mead.* 

The age to which our author belonged, was 
one in which, for a time, religion made wide and 
rapid progress. That in the days of its secular 
prosperity, many might be won but to a formal 
and even hypocritical assumption of its rites and 
profession, was to be expected. But neither in 
Scotland nor in England, nor in our own New 
England, was there any lack of fidelity in apply- 
ing to the churches tests of fearless thoroughness. 
The work of Guthrie, " The Trial of a Saving 
Interest in Christ" produced north of the Tweed ; 

* Calmay's Nonconf. Memorial, Ed. by S. Palmer. 
2d. Ed. vol. ii. pp. 461-467. 



PREFATORY NOTE. 



IX 



Mead's " Almost Christian," issued to the south 
of that boundary ; and the book by Shephard, of 
Cambridge, in Massachusetts, " The Parable of 
the Ten Virgins" are volumes of kindred char- 
acter ; and show that the eminent pastors of those 
times, were direct, and stern, and searching in 
the tests to which they would submit the hopes 
of the disciple of Christ. 

The art of the husbandman, his field, his seed, 
his plough, and his flail, furnish, it is evident to 
the most heedless reader of the New Testament, 
a favorite class of illustrations to our Lord and 
Saviour, in explaining and enforcing the effects 
of true religion on the heart and conduct of men. 
May we not, from that same art, borrow a simple 
and kindred illustration of the object which such 
writers as Guthrie, Shephard, and Mead have 
sought, and of the uses which such works as the 
present volume may well subserve, in the hands 
of every serious reader ? It is known, that in 
the agriculture of our own times, very much of 
advance is expected beyond the success of our 
fathers, in the greater depth to which the mod- 
ern ploughman is expected to drive his plough- 
share. Instead of stirring, merely, the upper 
surface of the earth, the instruments of the tiller 
are now contrived to force their way below the 



X PREFATORY NOTE. 

roots of grasses and weeds ; and the laborer is 
required to rely on faithful sub-soil ploughing. 
In proportion as the possession of a religious 
hope becomes common, facile, and lucrative, in 
that same degree does self-delusion become more 
easy ; and, in that same proportion, should this 
thorough scrutiny of our own motives and way, 
this sub- soil ploughing of the heart, be regarded 
as the more necessary. It has in its favor an 
authority from which there can be no appeal, 
when our Lord himself, the judge by whose 
scrutiny our hopes are to be finally tested, has, 
in allusion to the need of a religious trust, rightly 
planted and deeply based, commended the man 
who " digged deep." (Luke vi. 48.) 

William R. Williams. 

New York, January, 1850. 



EXTRACTS 



FROM PREFACE TO GLASGOW REPRINT. 



BY THE REV. D. YOUNG, OF PERTH. 



[The late distinguished Dr. Chalmers com- 
menced, with the aid of some other ministers of 
his own country and England, a series of re-issues 
of works of great usefulness, under the title of 
" Select Christian Authors, with Introduc- 
tory essays, Chalmers and Collins, Glasgow." 
Chalmers himself furnished several introductions ; 
and it was in this series, that John Foster issued 
his long and excellent introduction to " Dod- 
dridge's Rise and Progress of Religion;" and 
Edward Irving gave a valuable Essay, at the 
head of a reprint of "Bishop Home on the 
Psalms." Mead's " Almost Christian," was one 
of the treatises thus prefaced and reprinted. 
The Introductory Essay, was by an excellent 
minister of Perth, the Rev. David Young. From 
it we have drawn the following remarks.] 



Xll EXTRACTS. 

"'The almost Christian' — if there be one 
thing more than another, which its pages are 
fitted to produce, it is - a godly jealousy. To 
awaken this, and realize the fruits of it, is the 
author's chosen purpose. It is truly a searching 
volume. Its author saw the havoc which an 
easy credulity in matters of religion was spread- 
ing among professors of his own time ; his spirit 
was stirred within him, at the thought of the 
delusion which it propagated, and the immensity 
of the interests which it bartered away ; and in 
discharging a duty to the men of his generation, 
he has put on record a word in season to us. 
The volume is now intercepted from the disuse 
into which it was sinking ; a laudable effort is 
made, to present it afresh to the religious public ; 
and most devoutly is it to be wished, that the 
exercises which it inculcates, and to which it so 
honestly leads the way, may become the charac- 
teristic of modern professors. The immediate 
effect of such a revulsion might be, an extensive 
overthrow of hopes and purposes ; but its latter 
end would be, righteousness and peace. It 
might lead to that fearfulness which surpriseth 
the hypocrite; but nothing whatever would it 
demolish, except those refuges of lies which the 

2* 



EXTRACTS. XU1 

hail of a judgment to come must ultimately 
sweep away. 

" We cannot, indeed, withhold the remark, al- 
though it should be deemed censorious, that there 
is a very 'peculiar adaptation of the sentiments of 
this little book to the character of the times in 
which we are living. We all know the extent 
to which we set the fashion to each other in re- 
ligion as in everything else, and every wise man 
will take care so to estimate the spirit of his 
times, as to ascertain the precise kind of modifi- 
cation into which they tend to form his character. 
There are times when Christianity is newly in- 
troduced among a people, or when an important 
reformation in its general profession has been 
recently effected, or when professors are assailed 
by persecution, or when a general revival of re- 
ligion in its life and power has taken place, and 
in these times there is a tendency to the produc- 
tion of a severe sanctity in morals, and a pecu- 
liarly fervent and decided piety. In this state of 
things, the man of neutrality cannot subsist, and 
must either make an effort to come up to the 
general standard, or see himself left in the con- 
gregation of sinners. Such, however, are not our 
times. We have grown old in the enjoyment of 
peace, and the use of external privilege; the 

2 



XIV EXTRACTS. 

public creeds of most of our churches are sub- 
stantially orthodox: this has produced, and is 
still maintaining a general soundness of religious 
sentiment among the professing community at 
large. The continued enforcement of Christian 
doctrine on the minds of the people, is preserving, 
if not extending a commendable decency of de- 
portment ; the attention paid to religious train- 
ing among the young, with the remaining purity 
of Christian fellowship so far as it prevails, and 
the mingling influence of pious example from 
those who are decidedly Christian, have refined 
away the coarseness of the age, and induced even 
scepticism herself to speak with courtesy of the 
religion of the land. Now, let these things be 
put together and seriously thought of — let their 
tendency to induce a man to think well of him- 
self, since he confessedly holds so much, and 
stands so well with others around him, be fairly 
estimated, and surely it will be granted that there 
is reason at least to inquire whether amidst the 
ease and tranquillity of our times, we are not 
egregiously forgetting ourselves, and singing a 
dismal lullaby over the slumberings of piety. 
When a man gives himself to considerations like 
these in the deep seclusion of serious thought — 
when he connects them for illustration with what 



EXTRACTS. XV 

he sees and hears, and allows them to speak their 
native language to his understanding and his 
heart, he cannot suppress the working suspicion 
— that we are setting a fashion to each other of 
a kind the most injurious, and that the very gen- 
eration to which we belong, more fearfully per- 
haps than any other, is abounding with 'Almost 
Christians. ' 

" For such a state of things, the reader has in 
his hands an admirable antidote, applied with a 
plainness, and point, and delightful felicity of 
scriptural illustration, which render it both im- 
pressive and memorable. Matthew Mead, it is 
very true, was a man of olden habits, and to the 
charms of modern diction, his book has no pre- 
tensions ; but we see him in the garb of his 
times, and that taste must be pettish indeed, 
which would wish to see him in any other. The 
style of the book, although unadorned, is yet 
perspicuous and striking, and the very homeli- 
ness of its phrases, in instances not a few, is hap- 
pily fitted to promote its efficiency. 

(i It is a book of topics, containing much meaning 
in few words ; and the serious reader may often 
regret that more has not been said, on matters 
which he feels to be so very interesting. But 
this appearance of defect is in reality an excel- 



XVI 



EXTRACTS. 



lence ; its aim is to provoke a scrutiny of charac- 
ter ; and the writer who proposes this, has done 
enough, when he has shown cause for such a 
scrutiny, digested maxims for conducting it, and 
impressed his reader with the importance of the 
subject. The thing wanted here, is not an agent 
to do the work for a man, but a guide and mon- 
itor to furnish him with facilities, and ply him 
with motives to do it for himself. 

" It is a book of dissections, in which every de- 
partment of the Christian character is skilfully 
divested of its covering, and laid open to impar- 
tial survey ; and although it would be too much 
to say, that in the performance of a task, which 
exhibits such diversity, and requires such a nicety 
of spiritual discrimination, nothing has been done 
to disturb the peace of a saint ; yet the instances 
in which its author is chargeable with this, we 
take to be very few ; while perhaps there is not 
one of them in which the pain produced, if 
rightly improven, is not salutary in its tendency, 
or fails to lead on to more exalted enjoyment. 
But supposing that instances do occur, in which 
the peace of conscience is unduly disturbed, or 
that a sentiment, here and there, has dropped 
from the pen of the author, which tends to a false 
or injurious alarm, still it is better that a repara- 



EXTRACTS. XV11 

ble injury should be suffered, than that a delusion 
which is irreparable should remain undetected. 
It is the lot of the messenger, who either lifts up 
his voice or his pen to publish the counsel of God 
to man in the present complex state of society, 
that he cannot sound an alarm to the wicked, 
without putting some of the righteous in fear; 
nor can he minister consolation to the latter, 
without at least the hazard of having his message 
misapplied by the perversity of the latter. For 
these things, however, he is not accountable, al- 
though it is well that they overawe him. The 
scene in which he labors, is adjusted to his hand, 
by a wisdom which cannot err, and which has 
left him no choice, but to take things as he finds 
them ; guarding himself as he can against either 
extreme, and imploring as he goes on, that, by 
the mercy of the Lord, he may be found faithful. 
" But leaving the treatise to speak for itself, we 
beseech the man who is but almost a Christian, 
in travelling through its pages to avail himself of 
its aid. We ask him simply, to reason the mat- 
ter on the principles and findings which it sets 
before him ; but to do this in that spirit of ear- 
nest and humble inquisitiveness, which befits so 
grave a subject : and if such a spirit be far from 
him, or appearing to evaporate as he proceeds, 



XV111 EXTRACTS. 

let him pause and invoke its return, from that 
God in Jesus Christ, who maketh the heart of 
the rash to understand doctrine. As he wishes 
to prosper, let him never forget, that while it is 
easy to show him the proper means, and possible 
to bring him into contact with these, yet the dis- 
position to apply the means in such a way, as to 
gain their end, cometh forth from Him, who is 
wonderful in counsel and excellent in working." 

D. Y. 



TO THE 



CONGREGATION AT ST. SEPULCHRE'S, 



THAT WERE THE 



AUDITORS OF THESE SERMONS, 



GRACE AND PEACE BE MULTIPLIED. 



Beloved, 

What the meaning of that providence was, that 
called me to the occupation of my talent amongst you 
this summer, will be best read and understood by the 
effects of it upon your own souls. The kindly in- 
crease of grace and holiness in heart and life, can 
only prove it to have been in mercy. Where this is 
not the fruit of the word, there it becomes a judgment. 
The word travels with life or death, salvation or dam- 
nation, and bringeth forth one or the other in every 
soul that hears it. I would not for a world (were it 
in my power to make the choice) that my labors, which 
were meant and designed for the promotion of your 
immortal souls to the glory of the other world, in a 
present pursuance of the things of your peace, should 
be found to have been a ministration of death and con- 



XX 



DEDICATION. 



demnation, in the great day of Jesus Christ. Yet this 
tW Lord knoweth, is the too common effect of the 
most plain and powerful preaching of the gospel. 
" The waters of the sanctuary" do not always heal 
where they come, for there are " miry and marshy 
places that shall be given to salt." The same word 
is elsewhere in Scripture rendered " barrenness ;" He 
"turneth a fruitful land into barrenness;" — so that 
the judgment denounced upon these miry and marshy 
places is, that the curse of barrenness shall rest upon 
them, notwithstanding the " waters of the sanctuary 
overflow them." 

It is said, with certainty, that the gospel inflicteth 
a death of its own, as well as the law ; or else how 
are those trees in Jude said to be " twice dead, and 
plucked up by the roots." Yea, that which in itself 
is the greatest mercy, through the interposition of 
men's lusts, and the efficacy of this cursed sin of un- 
belief, turns to the greatest judgment, as the richest 
and most generous wine makes the sharpest vinegar. 
Our Lord Christ himself, the choicest mercy with 
which the bowels of God could bless a perishing 
world ; whose coming, himself bearing witness, was 
on no less an errand than that of eternal life and 
blessedness to the lost and cursed sons of Adam ; yet 
to how many was he a " stone of stumbling, and a 
rock of offence;" yea, "a gin, and a snare;" and 
that to both the houses of Israel? the only professing 
people of God at that day in the world ? And is he 
not a stone of stumbling in the ministry of the gospel 



DEDICATION. XXI 

to many professors to this very day, upon which they 
fall and are broken ? When he saith, " Blessed is he 
whosoever shall not be offended in me," he therein 
plainly supposes, that both in his person and doctrine 
the generality of men would be offended in him. 

Not that this is the design of Christ and the gospel, 
but it comes so to pass through the corruptions of the 
hearts of men, whereby they make light of Christ, 
and stand out against that life and grace which ;he 
Lord Jesus by his blood so dearly purchased, and is 
by the preaching of the gospel so freely tendered ; the 
wilful refusal whereof will as surely double our dam- 
nation, as the acceptance thereof will secure our eter- 
nal salvation. 

O consider, it is a thing of the most serious concern 
in the world, how we carry ourselves under the gos- 
pel, and with what dispositions and affections of heart 
soul-seasons of grace are entertained ; this being 
taken into the consideration to give it weight, that we 
are the nearer to heaven or hell, to salvation or dam- 
nation, by every ordinance we sit under. Boast not 
therefore of privileges enjoyed, with neglect of the im- 
portant duties thereby required. Remember Caper- 
naum's case and tremble. As many go to heaven by 
the very gates of hell, so more go to hell by the gates 
of heaven; in that the number of those that profess 
Christ is greater than the number of those that truly 
close with Christ. 

Beloved, I know the preaching of the gospel hath 
proselyted many of you into a profession ; but I fear 



xxu 



DEDICATION. 



that but few of you are brought by it to a true close 
with the Lord Christ for salvation. I beseech you 
bear with my jealousy, for it is the fruit of a tender 
love for your precious souls. Most men are good 
Christians in the verdict of their own opinion; but 
you know the law alloweth no man to be a witness in 
his own case, because their affection usually over- 
reacheth conscience, and self-love deceiveth truth for 
its own interest. 

The heart of man is the greatest impostor and cheat 
in the world ; God himself states it — " The heart is de- 
ceitful above all things. 1 ' Some of the deceits thereof 
you will find discovered in this Treatise, which shows 
you, that every grace hath its counterfeit, and that the 
highest profession may be, where true conversion is 
not. 

The design of it is not to " break the bruised reed, 
nor to quench the smoking flax." Not to discourage 
the weakest believer, but to awaken formal professors. 
I would not sadden the hearts of any " whom God 
would not have made sad ;" though I know it is hard 
to expose the dangerous state and condition of a pro- 
fessing hypocrite, but that the weak Christian will 
think himself concerned in the discovery. And there- 
fore, as I preached a sermon on sincerity among you, 
for the support and encouragement of such, so I pur- 
posed to have printed it with this. But who can be 
master of his own purposes ? That is, as I am un- 
der such daily variety of providences, your kindly ac- 
ceptance of this, will make me a debtor for that. 



DEDICATION. XX111 

The dedication hereof belongs to you on a double 
account ; for as it had not been preached, but that 
love to your souls caused it, so it had much less been 
printed, but that your importunate desire procured it. 
And therefore what entertainment soever it finds in 
the world, yet I hope I may expect you will welcome 
it, especially considering it was born under your roof, 
and therefore hopes to find favor in your eyes, and 
room in your hearts. 

Accept it, I beseech you, as a public acknowledg- 
ment of the engagements which your great, and, I 
think I may say, unparalleled respects have laid me 
under, which I can no way compensate but by my 
prayers ; and if you will take them for satisfaction, 
I promise to be your remembrancer at the throne of 
grace, whilst I am 

Matthew Mead. 



TO THE READER. 



Reader, 

I know how customary it is for men to ascend 
the public stage with premised apologies for the 
weakness and unworthiness of their labors, which 
is an argument that their desires (either for the 
sake of others' profit, or their own credit, or both) 
are stretched beyond the bounds of their abilities ; 
and that they covet to commend themselves to 
the world's censure, in a better dress than com- 
mon infirmity will allow. For my own part, I 
may truly say with Gideon, " Behold, my thousand 
is the meanest," my talent is the smallest, " and 
I am the least in my Father's house ;" and there- 
fore this appearance in public is not the fruit of 
my own choice, which would rather have been 
on some other subject, wherein I stand in some 
sense indebted to the world, or else somewhat 
more digested, and possibly better fitted for com- 
mon acceptation. But this is but to consult the 

interest of a man's own name, which, in matters 

3 



XXVI 



TO THE READER. 



of this concern, is no better than a " sowing to 
the flesh," and the harvest of such a seed-time 
will be " in corruption." 

Thou hast here one of the saddest considera- 
tions imaginable presented to thee, and that is, 
" How far it is possible a man may go in a pro- 
fession of religion, and yet, after all, fall short of 
salvation ; how far he may run, and yet not so 
run as to obtain." This, I say, is sad, but not so 
sad as true ; for our Lord Christ doth plainly at- 
test it : " Strive to enter in at the strait gate ; 
for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, 
and shall not be able." 

My design herein is, that the formal, sleepy 
professor may be awakened, and the close hypo- 
crite discovered ; but my fear is, that weak be- 
lievers may be hereby discouraged ; for, as it is 
hard to show how low a child of God may fall 
into sin, and yet have true grace, but that the 
sinner will be apt thereupon to presume ; so it is 
as hard to show how high a hypocrite may rise 
in a profession, and yet have no grace, but that 
the believer will be apt thereupon to despond. 
The prevention whereof I have carefully en- 
deavored, by showing, that though a man may 
go thus far, and yet be but almost a Christian, 
yet a man may fall short of this, and be a true 



TO THE READER. XXVU 

Christian notwithstanding. Judge not, therefore, 
thy state by any one character thou findest laid 
down of a false professor ; but read the whole, 
and then make a judgment ; for I have cared, as 
not to "give children's bread to dogs," so not to 
use the dog's whip to scare the children ; yet I 
could wish that this book might fall into the hands 
of such only whom it chielly concerns, who 
" have a name to live, and yet are dead ;" being 
busy with the " form of godliness," but strangers 
to the " power of it." These are the proper 
subjects of this treatise : and the Lord follow it 
with his blessing wherever it comes, that it may 
be an awakening word to all such, and especially 
to that generation of profligate professors with 
which this age abounds ; who, if they keep to 
their church, bow the knee, talk over a few 
prayers, and at a good time receive the sacra- 
ment, think they do enough for heaven, and 
hereupon judge their condition safe, and their 
salvation sure ; though there be a hell of sin in 
their hearts, " and the poison of asps is under 
their lips ;" their minds being as yet carnal and 
unconverted, and their conversations filthy and 
unsanctified. If eternal life be of so easy attain- 
ment, and to be had at so cheap a rate, why did 
our Lord Christ tell us, " Strait is the gate and 



XX Vlll TO THE READER. 

narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and 
few there be that find it ?" And why should the 
apostle perplex us with such a needless injunc- 
tion, " to give diligence to make our calling and 
election sure ?" Certainly, therefore, it is no such 
easy thing to be saved, as many make it ; and 
that thou wilt see plainly in t the following dis- 
course. I have been somewhat short in the ap- 
plication of it ; and therefore let me here be thy 
remembrancer in five important duties : — 

First, " Take heed of resting in a form of god- 
liness ; as if duties, ex opere operate* , could confer 
grace. A lifeless formality is advanced to a very 
high esteem in the world, as a " cab of dove's 
dung" was sold in the famine of Samaria at a 
very dear rate. Alas ! the profession of godli- 
ness is but a sandy foundation to build the hope 
of an immortal soul upon for eternity. Remem- 
ber, the Lord Jesus Christ called him a foolish 
builder, " that founded his house upon the sand," 
and the sad event proved him so, " for it fell, and 
great was the fall of it." therefore lay thy 
foundation by faith upon the rock Christ Jesus; 
look to Christ through all, and rest upon Christ 
in all. 

Secondly, " Labor to see an excellency in the 
power of godliness/' a beauty in the life of Christ. 



TO THE READER. XXIX 

If the means of grace have a loveliness in them, 
surely grace itself hath much more ; for, "the 
goodness of the means lies in its suitableness and 
serviceableness to the end." The form of godli- 
ness hath no goodness in it any farther than it 
steads and becomes useful to the soul in the 
power and practice of godliness. The life of holi- 
ness is the only excellent life ; it is the life of 
saints and angels in heaven ; yea, it is the life of 
God in himself. As it is a great proof of the 
baseness and filthiness of sin, that sinners seek to 
cover it ; so it is a great proof of the excellency 
of godliness that so many pretend to it. The 
very hypocrite's fair profession pleads the cause 
of religion, although the hypocrite is then really 
worst, when he is seemingly best. 

Thirdly, " Look upon things to come as the 
greatest realities ;" for things that are not be- 
lieved work no more upon the affections than if 
they had no being ; and this is the grand reason 
why the generality of men suffer their affections 
to go after the world, setting the creature in the 
place of God in their hearts. 

Most men judge of the reality of things by 
their visibility and proximity to sense ; and, there- 
fore, the choice of that wretched cardinal be- 
comes their option, who would not leave his part 
3* 



XXX TO THE READER. 

in Paris for his part in Paradise. Sure, what- 
ever his interest might be in the former, he had 
little enough in the latter. Well may covetous- 
ness be called idolatry, when it thus chooses the 
world for its god. 

! consider — eternity is no dream ; hell and 
the worm that never dies, is no melancholy con- 
ceit. Heaven is no feigned Elvsium ; there is the 
greatest reality imaginable in these things ; though 
they are spiritual, and out of the ken of sense, yet 
they are real, and within the view of faith. " Look 
not therefore at .the things which are seen, but 
look at the things which are not seen ; for the 
things that are seen are temporal, but the things 
which are not seen are eternal." 

Fourthly, "Set a high rate upon thy soul." 
What we lightly prize, we easily part with. Many 
men sell their souls at the rate of profane Esau's 
birth-right, "for a morsel of bread;" nay, "for 
that which," in the sense of the Holy Ghost, " is 
not bread." consider thy soul is the most pre- 
cious and invaluable jewel in the world ; it is the 
most beautiful piece of God's workmanship in the 
whole creation ; it is that which bears the image 
of God, and which was bought with the blood 
of the Son of God ; and shall we not set a value 
upon it, and count it precious ? 



TO THE READER. XXXI 

The apostle Peter speaks of three very pre- 
cious things: — 

1. A precious Christ. 

2. Precious Promises. 

3. Precious Faith. 

Wow, the preciousness of all these lies in their 
usefulness to the soul. Christ is precious, as 
being the redeemer of precious souls, — the Pro- 
mises are precious, as making over this precious 
Christ to precious souls, — Faith is precious, as 
bringing a precious soul to close with a precious 
Christ, as he is held forth in the precious pro- 
mises. O take heed that thou art not found over- 
valuing other things, and undervaluing thy soul. 
Shall thy flesh, nay thy beast, be loved, and shall 
thy soul be slighted ? Wilt thou clothe and pam- 
per thy body, and yet take no care of thy soul ? 
This is, as if a man should feed his dog, and starve 
his child. " Meats for the belly, and the belly for 
meats ; but God will destroy both it and them." 
let not a tottering, perishing carcass have all 
your time and care, as if the life and salvation of 
thy soul were not worth the while. 

Lastly, " Meditate much on the strictness and 
suddenness of that judgment-day, through which 
thou and I must pass into an everlasting state ; 
wherein God, the impartial judge, will require an 



XXXU TO THE READER. 

account at our hands of all our talents and in- 
trust ments." We must then account for time, 
how we have spent that ; for estate, how we have 
employed that ; for strength, how we have laid 
out that ; for afflictions and mercies, how they 
have been improved ; for the relations we stood 
in here, how they have been discharged ; and for 
seasons and means of grace, how they have been 
husbanded. And look, how "we have sowed 
here, we shall reap hereafter." 

Reader, these are things that of all others de- 
serve most of, and call loudest for, our utmost 
care and endeavors, though by the most least 
minded. To consider what a spirit of atheism (if 
we may judge the tree by the fruits, and the 
principle by the practice) the hearts of most men 
are filled with, who live, as if God were not to 
be served, nor Christ to be sought, nor lust to be 
mortified, nor self to be denied, nor the Scripture 
to be believed, nor the judgment-day to be minded, 
nor hell to be feared, nor heaven to be desired, 
nor the soul to be valued ; but give up themselves 
to a worse than brutish sensuality, " to work all 
uncleanness with greediness,'' living without God 
in the world — this is a meditation fit enough to 
break our hearts, if at least we were of holy 
David's temper, who " beheld the transgressors, 



TO THE READER. XXX111 

and was grieved," and had "rivers of waters 
running down his eyes, because men kept not 
God's laws." 

The prevention and correction of this soul -de- 
stroying distemper, is not the least design of this 
Treatise now put into thy hand. Though the 
chief virtue of this receipt lies in its sovereign use 
to assuage and cure the swelling tympany of hy- 
pocrisy, yet it may serve also, with God's blessing, 
as a plaster for the plague-sore of profaneness, if 
timely applied by serious meditation, and care- 
fully kept on by constant prayer. 

Reader, expect nothing of curiosity or quaint- 
ness, for then I shall deceive thee ; but if thou 
wouldst have a touch-stone for the trial of thy 
state, possibly this may serve thee. If thou art 
either a stranger to a profession, or a hypocrite 
under a profession, then read and tremble, for 
thou art the man here pointed at. 

Mutato nomine de te 



Fabula narratur. Horat. 

But if the kingdom of God be come with power 
into thy soul ; if Christ be formed in thee ; if thy 
heart be upright and sincere with God, then read 
and rejoice. 

I fear I have transgressed the bounds of an 



XXXIV TO THE READER. 

epistle. The mighty God, whose prerogative it 
is to teach to profit, whether by the tongue or 
the pen, by speaking or writing, bless this tract, 
that it may be to thee as a cloud of rain to the 
dry ground, dropping fatness to thy soul, that 
so thy fleece being watered with the " dew of 
heaven," thou mayest "grow in grace, and in 
the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ." In whom I am thy 

Friend and Servant, 

Matthew Mead. 

London, October, 1661. 



THE 



ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 



Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. 
Acts xxvi. 28. 

In this chapter you have the apostle Paul's 
apology and defensive plea, which he makes for 
himself against those blind Jews which so ma- 
liciously prosecuted him before Agrippa, Festus, 
Bernice, and the council. In which plea he 
chiefly insists upon three things. 

1. The manner of his life before conversion. 

2. The manner of his conversion. 

3. The manner of his life after conversion. 
How he lived before conversion, he tells you, 

ver. 4 — 13. How God wrought on him to con- 
version, he tells you, ver. 13 — 18. How he 
lived after conversion, he tells you, ver. 19 — 23. 
Before conversion he was very pharisaical. The 



22 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

manner of his conversion was very wonderful. 
The fruit of his conversion was very remarkable. 

Before conversion he persecuted the gospel 
which others preached : after conversion, he 
preached the gospel which himself had perse- 
cuted. 

While he was a persecutor of the gospel, the 
Jews loved him ; but now that, by the grace of 
God, he was become a preacher of the gospel, 
now the Jews hate him, and sought to kill him. 

He was once against Christ, and then many 
were for him ; but now that he was for Christ, 
all were against him; his being an enemy to 
Jesus, made others his friends ; but when he 
came to own Jesus, then they became his ene- 
mies. And this was the great charge they had 
against him, that of a great opposer he was be- 
come a great professor. Because God had 
changed him, therefore this enraged them : as if 
they would be the worse, because God had made 
him better. God had wrought on him by grace, 
and they seem to envy him the grace of God. 
He preached no treason, nor sowed no sedition ; 
only he preached repentance, and faith in Christ, 
and the resurrection, and for this he was " called 
in question." 

This is the breviate and sum of Paul's defence 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 23 

and plea for himself, which, you find in the sequel 
of the chapter, had a different effect upon his 
judges. 

Festus seems to censure him, ver. 24. Agrippa 
seems to be convinced by him, ver. 28. The 
whole bench seem to acquit him, ver. 30, 31. 
Festus thinks Paul was beside himself. Agrippa 
is almost persuaded to be such a one as himself. 

Festus thinks him mad, because he did not un- 
derstand the doctrine of Christ and the resurrec- 
tion : " much learning hath made thee mad." 
Agrippa is so affected with his plea, that he is 
almost wrought into his principle : Paul pleads 
so effectually for his religion, that Agrippa seems 
to be upon the turning point to his profession. 
" Then Agrippa said to Paul, almost thou per- 
suadest me to be a Christian. " 

"Almost." — The words make some debate 
among the learned. I shall not trouble you with 
the various hints upon them by Valla, Simplisius, 
Beza, Erasmus, and others. I take the words as 
we read them, and they show what an efficacy 
Paul's doctrine had upon Agrippa's conscience. 
Though he would not be converted, yet he could 
not but be convinced ; his conscience was touched, 
though his heart was not renewed. 

Observation. There is that in religion, which 
4 



24 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

carries its own evidence along with it even to the 
consciences of ungodly men. 

" Thou persuadest me." — The word is from the 
Hebrew., and it signifies both suadere and persua- 
dere ; either to use arguments to prevail, or to 
prevail by the arguments used. Now it is to be 
taken in the latter sense here, to show the in- 
fluence of Paul's argument upon Agrippa, which 
had almost proselyted him to the profession of 
Christianity. "Almost thou persuadest me to 
be a Christian. " 

" A Christian. " — I hope I need not tell you 
what a Christian is, though I am persuaded many 
that are called Christians, do not know what a 
Christian is, or if they do, yet they do not know 
what it is to be a Christian. A Christian is a 
disciple of Jesus Christ, one that believes in, and 
follows Christ. As one that embraces the doc- 
trine of Arminius, is called an Arminian ; and he 
that owns the doctrine and way of Luther, is called 
a Lutheran ; so he that embraces, and owns, and 
follows the doctrine of Jesus Christ, he is called 
a Christian. 

The word is taken more largely, and more 
strictly : more largely, and so all that profess 
Christ come in the flesh, are called Christians, in 
opposition to heathens that do not know Christ ; 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 25 

and to the poor blind Jews, that will not own 
Christ ; and to the Mahometan, that prefers Ma- 
homet, above Christ. But now in Scripture, the 
word is of a more strict and narrow acceptation, 
it is used only to denominate the true disciples 
and followers of Christ ; " the disciples were first 
called Christians at Antioch ; if any man suffer 
as a Christian, let him not be ashamed ;" that is, 
as a member and disciple of Christ ; and so in 
the text, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a 
Christian." 

The word is used but in these three places, as 
I find, in all the ISTew Testament, and in each of 
them it is used in the sense afore-mentioned. 

The Italians make the name to be a name of 
reproach among them, and usually abuse the 
word Christian to signify a fool. But if, as the 
apostle saith, " the preaching of Christ is to the 
world foolishness,' ' then it is no wonder that the 
disciples of Christ are to the world fools. Yet it 
is true, in a sound sense, that so they are ; for 
the whole of godliness is a mystery. A man 
must die, that would live ; he must be empty, 
that would be full ; he must be lost, that would 
be found; he must have nothing, that would 
have all things ; he must be blind, that would 
have illumination ; he must be condemned, that 



26 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

would have redemption ; so he must be a fool 
that would be a Christian. " If any man among 
you seems to be wise, let him become a fool, that 
he may be wise." He is the true Christian that 
is the world's fool, but wise to salvation. 

Thus you have the sense and meaning of the 
words briefly explained. The text needs no di- 
vision, and yet it is a pity the almost should not 
be divided from the Christian. Though it is of 
little avail to divide them as they are linked in 
the text, unless I could divide them as they are 
united in your hearts ; this would be a blessed 
division, if the almost might be taken from the 
Christian : that so you may not be only propemo- 
dum, but admodum ; not only almost, but alto- 
gether Christians. This is God's work to effect 
it, but is our duty to persuade to it ; and O that 
God would help me to manage this subject so, 
that you may say, in the conclusion, " Thou per- 
suadest me, not almost, but altogether to be a 
Christian!" 

The observation that I shall propound to handle 
is this : 

Doctrine. There are very many in the world 
that are almost, and yet bat almost Christians ; 
many that are near heaven, and yet are never the 
nearer ; many that are within a little of salvation, 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 2*7 

and yet shall never enjoy the least salvation ; they 
are within sight of heaven, and yet shall never 
have a sight of God. 

There are two sad expressions in Scripture, 
which I cannot but take notice of in this place. 
The one is concerning the truly righteous. The 
other is concerning the seemingly righteous. 

It is said of the truly righteous, he shall 
" scarcely be saved ;" and it is said of the seem- 
ingly righteous, he shall be almost saved : " Thou 
art not far from the kingdom of God." 

The righteous shall be saved with a scarcely, 
that is, through much difficulty ; he shall go to 
heaven through many sad fears of hell. The 
hypocrite shall be saved with an almost, that is, 
he shall go to hell through many fair hopes of 
heaven. 

There are two things which arise from hence 
of very serious meditation. The one is, how often 
a believer may miscarry, how low he may fall, 
and yet have true grace. The other is, how far 
a hypocrite may go in the way to heaven, how 
high he may attain, and yet have no grace. 

The saint may be cast down very near to hell, 

and yet shall never come there; and the hypocrite 

may be lifted up very near to heaven, and yet 

never come there. The saint may almost perish, 

4* 



28 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

and yet be saved eternally ; the hypocrite may 
almost be saved, and yet perish finally. For the 
saint at worst is really a believer, and the hypo- 
crite at best is really a sinner. 

Before I handle the doctrine, I must premise 
three things, which are of great use for the estab- 
lishing of weak believers, that they may not be 
shaken and discouraged by this doctrine. 

First, There is nothing in the doctrine that 
should be matter of stumbling or discouragement 
to weak Christians. The gospel doth not speak 
these things to wound believers, but to awaken 
sinners and formal professors. 

As there are none more averse than weak be- 
lievers, to apply the promises and comforts of the 
gospel to themsel ves, for whom they are properly 
designed ; so there are none more ready than they 
to apply the threats and severest things of the 
word to themselves, for whom they were never 
intended. As the disciples, when Christ told 
them, " One of you shall betray me ;" they that 
were innocent suspected themselves most, and 
therefore cry out, " Master, is it I ?" So weak 
Christians, when they hear sinners reproved, or 
the hypocrite laid open, in the ministry of the 
word, they presently cry out, "Is it I?" 

It is the hypocrite's fault to sit under the trials 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 29 

and discoveries of the word, and yet not to mind 
them : and it is the weak Christian's fault to draw 
sad conclusions of their own state from premises 
which nothing concern them. 

There is indeed great use of such doctrine as 
this is to all believers : 

1. To make them look to their standing, upon 
what foundation they are, and to see that the 
foundation of their hope be well laid, that they 
build not upon the sand, but upon a rock. 

2. It helps to raise our admiration of the dis- 
tinguishing love of God, in bringing us into the 
way everlasting, when so many perish from the 
way, and in overpowering our souls into a true 
conversion, when so many take up with a grace- 
less profession. 

3. It incites to that excellent duty of heart- 
searching, that so we approve ourselves to God 
in sincerity. 

4. It engages the soul in double diligence, that 
it may be found not only believing, but persever- 
ing in faith to the end. 

These duties, and such as these, make this doc- 
trine of use to all believers ; but they ought not 
to make use of it as a stumbling-block in the way 
of their peace and comfort. 

My design in preaching on this subject, is not 



30 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

to make sad the souls of those whom Christ will 
not have made sad ; I would bring water not to 
"quench the flax that is smoking," but to put out 
that false fire that is of the sinner's own kindling, 
lest walking all his days by the light thereof, he 
shall at last "lie down in sorrow." My aim is 
to level the mountain of the sinner's confidence, 
not to weaken the hand of the believer's faith and 
dependence ; to awaken and bring in secure formal 
sinners, not to discourage weak believers. 

Secondly, I would premise this ; though many 
may go far, very far in the way to heaven, and 
yet fall short, yet that soul that hath the least 
true grace shall never fall short ; " the righteous 
shall hold on his way." 

Though some may do very much in a way of 
duty, as I shall show hereafter, and yet miscarry ; 
yet that soul that doth duty with the least sin- 
cerity, shall never miscarry ; " for he saveth the 
upright in heart." 

The least measure of true grace is as saving as 
the greatest ; it saves as surely, though not so 
comfortably. The least grace gives a full interest 
in the blood of Christ, whereby we are thoroughly 
purged ; and it gives a full interest in the strength 
and power of Christ, whereby we shall be certainly 
preserved. 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 31 

Christ keeps faith in the soul, and faith keeps 
the soul in Christ ; and so " we are kept by the 
power of God, through faith unto salvation." 

Thirdly, I would premise this ; they that can 
hear such truths as this, without serious reflec- 
tion and self-examination, I must suspect the 
goodness of their condition. 

You will suspect that man to be next door to 
a bankrupt, that never casts up his accounts nor 
looks over his book; and I as verily think that 
man a hypocrite, that never searches nor deals 
with his own heart. He that goes on in a road 
of duties without any uneasiness or doubting of 
his state, I doubt no man's state more than his. 

When we see a man sick, and yet not sensible, 
we conclude the tokens of death are upon him. 
So when sinners have no sense of their spiritual 
condition, it is plain that they are dead in sin ; 
the tokens of eternal death are upon them. 
These things being premised, which I desire you 
would carry along in your mind while we travel 
through this subject, I come to speak to the prop- 
osition more distinctly and closely. 

Doctrine. That there are very many in the 
world that are almost, and yet hut almost Chris- 
tians. 

I shall demonstrate the truth of the proposition, 



32 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 



and then proceed to a more distinct prosecu- 
tion. 

I. I shall demonstrate the truth of the propo- 
sition ; and I shall do it by scripture-evidence, 
which speaks plainly and fully to the case. 

First, The young man in the gospel is an emi- 
nent proof of this truth ; there you read of one 
that came to Christ to learn of him the way to 
heaven : " Good Master, what good thing shall 
I do, that I may have eternal life ?" Our Lord 
Christ tells him, " If thou wilt enter into life, keep 
the commandments :" and when Christ tells him 
which, he answers, " Lord, all these I have kept 
from my youth up ; what lack I yet ?" 

Now do but see how far this man went. 

1. He obeyed — he did not only hear the com- 
mands of God, but he kept them ; now the Scrip- 
ture saith, " Blessed is he that hears the word of 
God, and keeps it." 

2. He obeyed universally — not this or that 
command, but both this and that ; he did not 
halve it with God, or pick and choose winch were 
easiest to be done, and leave the rest ; no, but he 
obeys all: " All these things have I kept." 

3. He obeyed constantly — not in a fit of zeal 
only, but in a continual series of duty ; his good- 
ness was not, as Ephraim's, "like the morning 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED, 33 

dew that passes away;' 7 no, "All these things 
have I kept from my youth up/' 

4. He professeth his desire to know and do 
more — to perfect that which was lacking of his 
obedience : and therefore he goes to Christ to 
instruct him in his duty ; " Master, what lack I 
yet ?" Now would you not think this a good 
man ? Alas ! how few go this far ? And yet as 
far as he went, he went not far enough ; "he was 
almost, and yet but almost a Christian ;" for he 
was an unsound hypocrite ; he forsakes Christ at 
last, and cleaves to his lust. This then is a full 
proof of the truth of the doctrine. 

Second, A second proof of it is that of the par- 
able of the virgins in St. Matthew : see what a 
progress they make, how far they go in a profes- 
sion of Christ. 

1. They are called "virgins." — Now this is a 
name given in the Scripture, both in the Old 
Testament and the New, to the saints of Christ : 
" The virgins love thee :" so in the revelation, the 
"one hundred forty and four thousand'' that 
stood with the Lamb on Mount Zion, are called 
" virgins." They are called virgins, because they 
are not defiled with the " corruptions that are in 
the world through lust." Now these here seem 
to be of that sort, for they are called virgins. 



34 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

2. They take their lamps — that is, they make 
a profession of Christ. 

3. They had some kind of oil in their lamps. 
They had some convictions and some faith, though 
not the faith of God's elect, to keep their profes- 
sion alive, to keep the lamp burning. 

4. They went — their profession was not an idle 
profession ; they did perform duties, frequented 
ordinances, and did many things commanded: 
they made a progress — they went. 

5. They went forth — they went and outwent, 
they left many behind them; this speaks out 
their separation from the world. 

6. They went with the " wise virgins" — :they 
joined themselves to those who had joined them- 
selves to the Lord, and were companions of them 
that were companions of Christ. 

7. They go " forth to meet the bridegroom" — 
this speaks out their owning and seeking after 
Christ. 

8. When they heard the cry of the bridegroom 
coming, " they arose and trimmed their lamps ;" 
they profess Christ more highly, hoping now to 
go in with the bridegroom. 

9. They sought for true grace. Now do not 
we say, the desires of grace are grace ? and so 
they are, if true and timely ; if sound and season- 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 35 

able. Why lo here a desire of grace in these 
virgins, " Give us of your oil." 

It was a desire of true grace, but it was not a 
true desire of grace ; it was not true, because not 
timely ; unsound, as being unseasonable ; it was 
too late. Their folly was in not taking oil when 
they took their lamps ; their time of seeking grace 
was when they came to Christ ; it was too late to 
seek it when Christ came to them. They should 
have sought for that when they took up their 
profession : it was too late to seek it at the com- 
ing of the bridegroom. And therefore "they 
were shut out ;" and though they cry for entrance, 
" Lord, Lord, open to us ;" yet the Lord Christ 
tells them, " I know you not." 

You see how far these virgins go in a profes- 
sion of Jesus Christ, and how long they continue 
in it, even till the bridegroom came ; they go to 
the very door of heaven, and there, like the Sodo- 
mites, perish with their hands upon the very 
threshold of glory. They were almost Christians, 
and yet hut almost ; almost saved, and yet perish. 

You that are professors of the gospel of Christ, 
stand and tremble : if they that have gone be- 
yond us fall short of heaven, what shall become 
of us that fall short of them ? If they that 
are virgins, that profess Christ, that have some 

5 



36 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

faith in their profession, such as it is, that have 
some fruit in their faith, that outstrip others that 
seek Christ, that improve their profession, and 
suit themselves to their profession — nay, that seek 
grace ; if such as these be but almost Christians, 
Lord, what are we ? 

Third, If these two witnesses be not sufficient 
to prove the truth, and confirm the credit of the 
proposition, take a third ; and that shall be from 
the Old Testament, Isaiah lviii. 2. See what God 
saith of that people ; he gives them a very high 
character for a choice people, one would think : 
" They seek me daily ; they delight to know nry 
ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and for- 
sook not the ordinance of their God ; they ask of 
me the ordinances of justice ; they take delight 
in approaching to God." 

See how far these went ; if God had not said 
they were rotten and unsound, we should have 
taken them for the " he -goats before the nock," 
and ranked them among the worthies. Pray 
observe, 

1. They seek God. — ISTow this is the proper 
^character of a true saint — >to seek God. True 
saints are called, " seekers of God." " This is 
the generation of them that seek him, that seek 
thy face, Jacob ;" or, God of Jacob. Lo, 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 3*7 

here a generation of them that seek God ; and 
are not these the saints of God ? — Nay, farther, 
2. They seek him daily. — Here is diligence 
backed with continuance, day by day ; that is, 
every day, from day to day. They did hot seek 
him by fits and starts, nor in a time of trouble 
and affliction only, as many do. " Lord, in trouble 
have they visited thee ; they poured out a prayer 
when thy chastening was upon them." Many 
when God visits them, then they visit him, but 
not till then ; when God poureth out his afflic- 
tions, then they pour put their supplications. 
This is seamen's devotion ; when the storms have 
brought them to " their wits' end, then they cry 
to the Lord in their trouble." Many never cry 
to God, till they are at their wits' end ; they 
never come to God for help, so long as they can 
help themselves. But now these here, whom 
God speaks of, are more zealous in their devo- 
tion ; the others make a virtue of necessity, but 
these seem to make conscience of duty ; for, saith 
God, " they seek me daily." Sure this is, one 
would think, a note of sincerity. Job saith of 
the hypocrite, " Will he always call upon God ?" 
Surely not ; but now this people call upon God 
always, " they seek him daily ;" certainly these 
are no hypocrites. 



38 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

3. Saith God, "They delight to know my 
ways." Sure this frees them from the suspicion 
of hypocrisy ; for, they say not unto God, "De- 
part from us ; we desire not the knowledge of 
thy ways." 

4. They are " as a nation that did righteous- 
ness." Not only as a nation that spake righteous- 
ness, or knew righteousness, or professed right- 
eousness ; but as a nation that did righteousness, 
that practised nothing but what was just and 
right. They appeared, to the judgment of the 
world, as good as the best. 

5. They forsook not the ordinances of their 
God. — They seem true to their principles, con- 
stant to their profession, better than many among 
us, that cast off duties, and forsake the ordinances 
of God : but these hold out in their profession ; 
" they forsook not the ordinances of God." 

6. "They ask of me," saith God, "the ordi- 
nances of justice." They will not make their 
own will the rule of right and wrong, but the 
law and will of God : and therefore, in all their 
dealings with men, they desire to be guided and 
counselled by God : " They ask of me the ordi- 
nances of justice." 

1. They take delight in approaching to God. 
Sure this cannot be the guise of a hypocrite. 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 39 

" Will lie delight himself in the Almighty ?" saith 
Job : — no, he will not. Though God is the chief 
delight of man, (having everything in him to 
render him lovely, as was said of Titus Vespa- 
sian,) yet the hypocrites will not delight in God. 
Till the affections are made spiritual, there is no 
affection to things that are spiritual. God is a 
spiritual good, and therefore hypocrites cannot 
delight in God. But these are a people that de- 
light in approaching to God. 

8. They were a people that were much in fast- 
ing: "Wherefore have we fasted," say they, 
" and thou seest not ?" Now this is a duty that 
doth not suppose and require truth of grace only 
in the heart, but strength of grace. 

" No man," saith our Lord Christ, " puts new 
wine into old bottles, lest the bottles break and 
the wine run out." New wine is strong, and old 
bottles weak; and the strong wine breaks the 
weak vessel : this is a reason Christ gives, why 
his disciples, who were newly converted, and but 
weak as yet, were not exercised with this austere 
discipline. But this people here mentioned were 
a people that fasted often, afflicted their souls 
much, wore themselves out by frequent practices 
of humiliation. Sure therefore this was "new 
wine in new bottles ;" this must needs be a people 

5* 



40 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

strong in grace ; there seems to be grace not only 
in truth, but also in growth. And yet, for all 
this, they were no better than a generation of 
hypocrites ; they made a goodly progress, and 
went far, but yet they went not far enough ; they 
were cast off by God after all. 

I hope by this time the truth of the point is 
sufficiently avouched and confirmed ; " that a 
man may be, yea, very many are, almost, and yet 
no more than but almost Chris tians." 

Now for the more distinct prosecution of the 
point. 

1. I shall show you, step by step, how far he 
may go, to what attainments he may reach, how 
specious and singular a progress he may make in 
religion, and yet be but almost a Christian when 
all is done. 

2. I will show whence it is, that many men go 
so far as that they are almost Christians. 

3. Why they are but almost Christians when 
they have gone thus far. 

4. What the reason is, why men that go thus 
far as to be almost Christians, yet go no farther 
than to be almost Christians. 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 41 



Question I. 

How far may a man go in the way to heaven, 
and yet be but almost a Christian ? 

Answer. This I will show you in twenty 
several steps. 

I. A man may have much knowledge, much 
light ; he may know much of God and his will, 
much of Christ and his ways, and yet be but 
almost a Christian. 

For though there can be no grace without 
knowledge, yet there may be much knowledge 
where there is no grace ; illumination often goes 
before, when conversion never follows after. The 
subject of knowledge is the understanding; the 
subject of holiness is the will. Now a man may 
have his understanding enlightened, and yet his 
will not at all sanctified. He may have an un- 
derstanding to know God, and yet want a will to 
obey God. The apostle tells us of some, that, 
" when they knew God, they glorified him not 
as God." 

To make a man altogether a Christian, there 
must be light in the head, and heat in the heart ; 
knowledge in the understanding, and zeal in the 



42 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

affections. Some have zeal and no knowledge ; 
that is, blind devotion ; some have knowledge and 
no zeal; that is, fruitless speculation : but where 
knowledge is joined with zeal, that makes a true 
Christian. 

Objection. But is it not said, " This is life eter- 
nal — to know thee, the only true God, and Jesus 
Christ whom thou hast sent ?" 

Answer. It is not every knowledge of God and 
Christ, that interests the soul in life eternal. For 
why then do the devils perish ; they have more 
knowledge of God than all the men in the world ; 
for though, by their fall, they lost their holiness, 
yet they lost not their knowledge. They are 
called dai/uovsg, from their knowledge, and yet 
they are 8lol6oIol > from their malice, devils still. 

Knowledge may fill the head, but it will never 
better the heart, if there be not somewhat else. 
The Pharisees had much knowledge : " Behold, 
thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and 
makest thy boast of God, and knowest his will," 
&c, and yet they were a generation of hypocrites. 
Alas ! how many have gone loaded with knowl- 
edge to hell ! 

Though it is true, that it is life eternal to know 
God and Jesus Christ ; yet it is as true, that 
many do know God and Jesus Christ, that shall 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 43 

never see life eternal. There is, you must know, 
a twofold knowledge; the one is common, but 
not saving ; the other is not common, but saving : 
common knowledge is that which floats in the 
head, but does not influence the heart. This 
knowledge, reprobates may have ; " Balaam saw 
Christ from the top of the rocks, and from the 
hills." 

Naturalists say, that there is a pearl in the 
toad's head, and yet her belly is full of poison. 
The French have a berry which they call uve de 
spine, the grape of a thorn. The common knowl- 
edge of Christ is the pearl in the toad's head — 
the grape that grows upon thorns ; it may be 
found in men unsanctified. 

And then there is a saving knowledge of God 
and Christ, which includes the assent of the mind, 
and the consent of the will ; this is a knowledge 
that implies faith ; " By his knowledge shall my 
righteous servant justify many. ,, And this is 
that knowledge which leads to life eternal : now 
whatever that measure of knowledge is, which a 
man may have of God, and of Jesus Christ, yet 
if it be not this saving knowledge — knowledge 
joined with affection and application — he is but 
almost a Christian. 

He only knows God aright, who knows how to 



44 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

obey him, and obeys according to his knowledge 
of him : " A good understanding have all they 
that do his commandments." All knowledge 
without this makes a man but like Nebuchad- 
nezzar's image, with "a head of gold, and feet of 
clay." 

Some know, but to know. 

Some know, to be known. 

Some know, to practise what they know. 

Now, to know, but to know — that is curiosity. 

To know, to be known — that is vain glory. 

But to know, to practise what we know — that 
is gospel duty. This makes a man a complete 
Christian ; the other, without this, makes, a man 
almost, and yet but almost a Christian. 

II. A man may have great and eminent gifts, 
yea, spiritual gifts, and yet be but almost a 
Christian. 

The gift of prayer is a spiritual gift. Now this 
a man may have, and yet be but almost a Chris- 
tian : for the gift of prayer is one thing ; the 
grace of prayer is another. The gift of preaching 
and prophesying is a spiritual gift ; now this a 
man may have, and yet be but almost a Christian. 
Judas was a great preacher ; so were they that 
came to Christ, and said, " Lord, Lord, we have 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 45 

prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have 
cast out devils," &c. 

You must know that it is not gifts, but grace, 
which makes a Christian : For, 

1. Gifts are from a common work of the Spirit. 
Now a man may partake of all the common gifts 
of the Spirit, and yet be a reprobate ; for there- 
fore they are called common, because they are in- 
differently dispensed by the Spirit to good and 
bad ; to them that are believers, and to them 
that are not. 

They that have grace have gifts ; and they 
that have no grace, may have the same gifts ; for 
the Spirit works in both ; nay, in this sense he 
that hath no grace, may be under a greater work 
of the Spirit [quod hoc) as to this thing, than he 
that hath most grace ; a graceless professor may 
have greater gifts than the most holy believer : 
he may out-pray, and out-preach, and out-do 
them ; but they in sincerity and integrity out-go 
him. 

2. Gifts are for the use and good of others, 
they are given in ordinem alium, as the school- 
men speak, for the profiting and edifying of 
others : so says the apostle, " they are given to 
profit withal." ISTow a man may edify another by 
his gifts, and yet be unedified himself; he may 



46 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

be profitable to another, and yet unprofitable to 
himself. 

The raven was an unclean bird : God makes 
use of her to feed Elijah ; though she was not 
good meat, yet it was good meat she brought. 
A lame man may with his crutch point to the right 
way, and yet not be able to walk in it himself. 
A crooked tailor mayxmake a suit to fit a straight 
body, though it fit not him that made it, because 
of his crookedness. The church (Christ's garden 
inclosed) may be watered through a wooden 
gutter ; the sun may give light through a dusky 
window ; and the field may be well sowed with 
a dirty hand. 

The efficacy of the word doth not depend upon 
the authority of him that speaks it, but upon the 
authority of God that blesses it. So that another 
may be converted by my preaching, and yet I may 
be cast away notwithstanding. Balaam makes a 
clear and rare prophecy of Christ, and yet he hath 
no benefit by Christ : " There shall come a star 
out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of 
Israel ;" — but yet Balaam shall have no benefit 
by it : "I shall see him, but not now ; I shall 
behold him, but not nigh." 

God may use a man's gifts to bring another to 
Christ, when he himself, whose gifts God uses, 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 4*7 

may be a stranger unto Christ ; one man may 
confirm another in the faith, and yet himself may 
be a stranger to the faith. Pendleton strengthens 
and confirms Sanders, in Queen Mary's days, to 
stand in the truth he had preached, and to seal 
it with his blood, and yet afterwards plays the 
apostate himself. 

Scultetus tells us of one Johannes Speiserus, a 
famous preacher of Augsburg in Germany, in the 
year 1523, who preached the gospel so powerfully 
that divers common harlots were converted, and 
became good Christians ; and yet himself after- 
wards turned papist and came to a miserable end. 
Thus the candle may burn bright to light others 
in their work, and yet afterwards go out in a stink. 

3. It is beyond the power of the greatest gifts 
to change the heart ; a man may preach like an 
apostle, pray like an angel, and yet may have the 
heart of a devil. It is grace only that can change 
the heart ; the greatest gifts cannot change it, but 
the least grace can; gifts may make a man a 
scholar, but grace makes a man a believer. Now 
if gifts cannot change the heart, then a man may 
have the greatest gifts, and yet be but almost a 
Christian. 

4. Many have gone laden with gifts to hell ; no 
doubt Judas had great gifts, for he was a preacher 

6 



48 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

of the gospel ; and our Lord Jesus Christ would 
not set him to work, and not fit him for the work ; 
yet " Judas is gone to his own place :" the Scribes 
and Pharisees were men of great gifts, and yet, 
" where is the wise ? where is the scribe ?" 

" The preaching of the cross is to them that 
perish foolishness." Them that perish, who are 
they ? Who ! the wise and the learned, both 
among Jews and Greeks ; these are called " them 
that perish." A great bishop said, when he saw 
a poor shepherd weeping over a toad : " The poor 
illiterate world attain to heaven, while we with 
all our learning fall into hell." 

There are three things must be done for us, if 
ever we would avoid perishing. 

We must be thoroughly convinced of sin. 

We must be reallv united to Christ. 

«/ 

We must be instated in the covenant of grace. 

Now, the greatest gifts cannot stead us in any 
of these. 

They cannot work thorough convictions. 

They cannot effect our union. 

They cannot bring us into covenant-relation. 
And consequently, they cannot preserve us from 
eternally perishing ; and if so, then a man may 
have the greatest gifts, and yet be but almost a 
Christian. 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 49 

5. Gifts may decay and perish : they do not 
lie beyond the reach of corruption ; indeed grace 
shall never perish, but gifts will : grace is incor- 
ruptible, though gifts are not ; grace is " a spring, 
whose waters fail not," but the streams of gifts 
may be dried up. If grace be corruptible in its 
own nature, as being but a creature, yet it is in- 
corruptible in regard of its conserver, as being 
the new creature ; he that did create it in us, will 
conserve it in us ; he that did begin it will also 
finish it. 

Gifts have their root in nature, but grace hath 
its roots in Christ ; and therefore though gifts may 
die and wither, yet grace shall abide forever. 
Now if gifts are perishing, then, though he that 
hath the least grace is a Christian, he that hath 
the greatest gifts may be but almost a Christian. 

Objection. But doth not the apostle bid us 
" covet earnestly the best gifts ?" Why must we 
covet them, and covet them earnestly, if they 
avail not to salvation ? 

Answer. Gifts are good, though they are not 
the best good ; they are excellent, but there is 
somewhat more excellent, so it follows in the 
same verse, " Yet I show unto you a more excel- 
lent way," and that is the way of grace. One 
dram of grace is more worth than a talent of 



50 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

gifts : gifts may make us rich towards men, but 
it is grace that makes us " rich towards God." 
Our gifts profit others, but grace profits ourselves ; 
that whereby I profit another is good, but that 
by which I am profited myself is better. 

Now because gifts are good, therefore we ought 
to covet them ; but because they are not the best 
good, therefore we ought not to rest in them : we 
must covet gifts for the good of others, that they 
may be edified ; and we must covet grace for the 
good of our own souls, that they may be saved ; 
for whosoever be bettered by our gifts, yet we 
shall miscarry without grace. 

III. A man may have a high profession of re- 
ligion, be much in external duties of godliness, 
and yet be but almost a Christian. 

Mark what our Lord tells them, " Not every 
one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter 
into the kingdom of heaven ;" that is, not every 
one that makes a profession of Christ, shall there- 
fore be owned for a true disciple of Christ. " All 
are not Israel that are of Israel ;" nor are all 
Christians that make a profession of religion. 

What a godly profession had Judas ! he followed 
Christ, left all for Christ, he preached the gospel 
of Christ, he cast out devils in the name of Christ, 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 51 

he eat and drank at the table of Christ ; and yet 
Judas was but a hypocrite. 

Most professors are like lilies, fair in show, but 
foul in scent ; or like pepper, hot in the mouth, 
but cold in the stomach. The finest lace may 
be upon the coarsest cloth. 

It is a great deceit to measure the substance 
of our religion by the bulk of our profession, and 
to judge of the strength of our graces by the 
length of our duties. The Scriptures speak of 
some who having " a form of godliness, yet deny 
the power thereof." Deny the power ; that is, 
they do not live in the practice of those graces 
to which they pretend in their duties ; he that 
pretends to godliness by a specious profession, 
and yet doth not practise godliness by a holy 
conversation, " he hath a form, but denies the 
power." Grotius compares such to the ostrich, 
which hath great wings, but yet flies not. Many 
have the wings of a fair profession, but yet use 
them not to mount upward in spiritual affections, 
and a heavenly conversation. 

But to clear the truth of this, that a man may 
make a high profession of religion, and yet be 
but almost a Christian, take a fourfold evidence. 

1. If a man may profess religion, and yet never 
have his heart changed, nor his state bettered, 

6* 



52 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 



then he may be a great professor, and yet be but 
almost a Christian. But a man may profess re- 
ligion, and yet never have his heart changed, nor 
his state renewed. He may be a constant hearer 
of the word, and yet be a sinner still ; he may 
come often to the Lord's table, and yet go away 
a sinner as he came ; we must not think that du- 
ties can confer grace. 

Many a soul hath been converted by Christ in 
an ordinance, but never was any soul converted 
by an ordinance without Christ. And doth Christ 
convert all that sit under the ordinances ? Surely 
not ; for to some, " the word is a savor of death 
unto death." And if so, then it is plain, that a 
man may profess religion, and yet be but almost 
a Christian. 

2. A man may profess religion, and live in a 
form of godliness in hypocrisy. "Hear ye this, 
house of Jacob, which are called by the name 
of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of 
Judah ; which swear by the name of the Lord, 
and make mention of the God of Israel, but not 
in truth, nor in righteousness." What do you 
think of these ? " They make mention of the 
name of the Lord, there is their profession but 
not in truth ; nor in righteousness," there is their 
dissimulation : and indeed there could be no hy- 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 53 

pocrisy in a religious sense, were it not for a pro- 
fession of religion ; for lie that is wicked and car- 
nal, and vile inwardly, and appears to be so out- 
wardly, he is no hypocrite, but is what he appears, 
and appears what he is. But he that is one thing 
really, and another thing seemingly, is carnal and 
unholy, and yet seems to be good and holy, he is 
a hypocrite. 

Thus the Casuists define hypocrisy to be a 
counterfeiting of holiness ; and this fits exactly 
with the Greek word, which is, to counterfeit. 

And to this purpose, the Hebrews have two 
words for hypocrites; panim, which signifies 
faces ; and ckanepim, which signifies counterfeits ; 
from chanajih, to dissemble : so that he is a hypo- 
crite that dissembles religion, and weareth the face 
of holiness, and yet is without the grace of holiness. 
He appears to be in semblance, what he is not in 
substance ; he wears a form of godliness without, 
only as a cover of a profane heart within. He hath 
a profession that he may not be thought wicked ; 
but it is but a profession, and therefore he is wicked. 
He is the religious hypocrite ; religious, because he 
pretends to it ; and yet a hypocrite, because he 
doth but pretend to it. He is like many men in a 
consumption, that have fresh looks, and yet rot- 
ten lungs ; or like an apple that hath a fair skin, but 



54 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

a rotten core. Many appear righteous, who are, 
only righteous in appearance. And if so, then a 
man may profess religion, and yet be but al- 
most a Christian. 

3. Custom and fashion may make a man a pro- 
fessor ; as you have many that wear this or that 
garb, not because it keeps them warmer, or hath 
any excellency in it more than another, but merely 
for fashion. 

Many must have powdered hair, spotted faces, 
feathers in their caps, &c. for no other end, but 
because they would be fools in fashion. So, many 
profess Christianity — not because the means of 
grace warm the heart, or that they see any ex- 
cellencies in the ways of God above the world, 
but — merely to follow the fashion ! I wish I 
might not say, it hath been true of our days, be- 
cause religion hath been uppermost, therefore 
many have professed ; it hath been the gaining 
trade, and then most will be of that trade. 

Religion in credit makes many professors, but 
few proselytes ; but when religion suffers, then 
its confessors are no more than its converts ; for 
custom makes the former, but conscience the latter. 
He that is a professor of religion merely for custom- 
sake, when it prospers, will never be a martyr 
for Christ's sake, when religion suffers. He that 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 55 

owns the truth, to live upon that, will disown it, 
when it comes to live upon him. 

They say, that when a house is decaying or 
falling, all the rats and mice will forsake it ; while 
the house is firm, and they may shelter in the 
roof, they will stay, but no longer ; lest, in the 
decay, the fall should be upon them, and they 
that lived at top should die at bottom. My 
brethren, may I not say, we have many that are 
the vermin, the rats and mice of religion, that 
would live under the roof of it, while they might 
have shelter in it ; but when it suffers, forsake it, 
lest it should fall, and the fall should be upon 
them? I am persuaded this is not the least 
reason why God hath brought the wheel upon 
the profession of religion ; namely to rid it of the 
vermin. He shakes the foundations of the house, 
that these rats and mice may quit the roof; not 
to overturn it, but to rid them of it ; as the hus- 
bandman fans the wheat, that he may get rid of 
the chaff. The halcyon days of the gospel pro- 
voke hypocrisy, but the sufferings for religion 
prove sincerity. 

Now, then, if custom and fashion make many 
men professors, then a man may profess religion, 
and yet be but almost a Christian. 

4. If many may perish under a profession of 



56 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

godliness, then a man may profess religion and 
yet be but almost a Christian. 

Now, the Scripture is clear, that a man may 
perish under the highest profession of religion. 
Christ cursed the fig- tree, that had leaves and no 
fruit. It is said, that " the children of the king- 
dom shall be cast out into outer darkness." Who 
were these, but they that were then the only 
people of God in the world by profession, that 
had made a " covenant with him by sacrifice" — 
and yet these were cast out. 

In St. Matthew, you read of some that came 
and made boast of their profession to Christ, 
hoping that might save them. " Lord," say they, 
"have we not prophesied in thy name, cast out 
devils in thy name, done many wonderful works 
in thy name ?" Now what saith our Lord Christ 
to this ? " Then I will profess unto them, I never 
knew you; depart from me." 

Mark, here are they that prophesy in his name, 
and yet perish in his wrath ; in his name cast out 
devils, and then are cast out themselves ; in his 
name do many wonderful works, and yet perish 
for wicked workers. The profession of religion 
will no more keep a man from perishing, than 
calling a ship the Safe-guard, or the Good-speed, 
will keep her from drowning. As many go to 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 57 

heaven with the fear of hell in their hearts, so many- 
go to hell with the name of Christ in their mouths. 
Now then, if many may perish under a profession 
of godliness, then may a man be a high professor 
of religion, and yet be hut almost a Christian. 

Objection. But is it not said by the Lord Christ 
himself, " He that confesses me before men, him 
will I confess before my Father in heaven ?" 
'Now, for Christ to say, he will confess us before 
the Father, is equivalent to a promise of eternal 
life : for if Jesus Christ confess us, God the Father 
will never disown us. 

True, they that confess Christ, shall be con- 
fessed by him ; and it is as true, that this confes- 
sion is equivalent to a promise of salvation. But 
now you must know, that professing Christ, is not 
confessing him : for to profess Christ is one thing 
— to confess Christ is another. Confession is a 
living testimony for Christ, in a time when reli- 
gion suffers ; profession may be only a lifeless 
formality, in a time when religion prospers. To 
confess Christ, is to choose his ways, and own 
them. To profess Christ, is to plead for his ways, 
and yet live beside them. Profession may be from 
a feigned love to the ways of Christ ; but confes- 
sion is from a rooted love to the person of Christ. 
To profess Christ, is to own him when none deny 



58 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 



him ; to confess Christ, is to plead for him, and 
suffer for him, when others oppose him. Hypo- 
crites may be professors ; but the martyrs are 
the true confessors. Profession is a swimming 
down the stream. Confession is a swimming 
against the stream. Now many may swim with 
the stream, like the dead fish, that cannot swim 
against the stream, with the living fish. Many 
may profess Christ, that cannot confess Christ ; 
and so, notwithstanding their profession, yet are 
but almost Christians. 

IV. To come yet nearer ; a man may go far in 
opposing his sin, and yet be but almost a Christian. 

How far a man may go in this work, I shall 
show you in seven gradual instances. 

First, A man may be convinced of sin, and yet 
be but almost a Christian : for, 

1. Conviction may be rational, as well as spirit- 
ual ; it may be from a natural conscience enlight- 
ened by the word, without the effectual work of 
the Spirit, applying sin to the heart. 

2. Convictions may be worn out; they many 
times go off, and end not in sound conversion. 
Saith the church, " We have been with child, we 
have been in pain, we have brought forth wind." 
This is the complaint of the church, in reference 
to the unprofitableness of their afflictions ; and it 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 59 

may be the complaint in most, in reference to the 
unprofitableness of their convictions. 

3. Many take conviction of sin, to be conver- 
sion from sin ; and to sit down and rest in their 
convictions. That is a sad complaint God makes 
of Ephraim : u Ephraim is an unwise son ; for he 
should not stay long* in the place of the breaking 
forth of children." Now then, if convictions may 
be only from natural conscience ; if they may be 
worn out, or may be mistaken, and rested in for 
conversion, then a man may have convictions, and 
be but almost a Christian. 

Secondly, A man may mourn for sin, and yet 
be but almost a Christian. So did Saul ; so did 
Esau, for the loss of his birthright, which was his 
sin, and therefore he is called, by the Spirit of 
God, " profane Esau ;" yet, " he sought it again 
carefully with tears." 

Objection. But doth not Christ pronounce 
them blessed that mourn ? " Blessed are they 
that mourn." Sure then, if a man mourn for sin, 
he is in a good condition : you see, saith Nazianzen, 
that salvation is joined with sorrow. 

Solution. I answer, it is true, that they who 
mourn for sin, in the sense Christ there speaks of, 
are blessed ; but all mourning for sin, doth not 
therefore render us blessed. 

7 



60 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

1. True mourning for sin must flow from spirit- 
ual convictions of the evil, and vileness, and dam- 
nable nature of sin. Now, all that mourn for sin, 
do not do it from a thorough work of spiritual 
conviction upon the soul ; they have not a right 
sense of the evil and vileness of sin. 

2. True mourning for sin, is more for the evil 
that is in sin, than the evil that comes by sin ; 
more because it dishonors God, and wounds Christ, 
and grieves the Spirit, and makes the soul unlike 
God, than because it damns the soul. Now there 
are many that mourn for sin, not so much for the 
evil that is in it, as for the evil that it brings with 
it ; there is mourning for sin in hell ; you read of 
"weeping and wailing" there. The damned are 
weeping and mourning to eternity ; there, is all 
sorrow, and no comfort. As in heaven there is 
peace without trouble, joy without mourning ; so 
in hell there is trouble without peace, mourning 
without joy, weeping and wailing incessantly ; but 
it is for the evil they feel by sin, and not for the 
evil that is in sin ; so that a man may mourn for 
sin, and yet be but almost a Christian : it may 
grieve him to think of perishing for sin, when it 
does not grieve him that he is denied and polluted 
by sin. 

Thirdly, A man may make large confession of 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 61 

sin, to God, to others, and yet be but almost a 
Christian. 

How ingenuously doth Saul confess his sin to 
David ? " I have sinned," saith he, " thou art 
more righteous than I ! Behold, I have played 
the fool, and have erred exceedingly." So Ju- 
das makes a full confession : " I have sinned in 
betraying innocent blood." Yet Saul and Judas 
were both rejected of God ; so that a man may 
confess sin, and yet be but almost a Christian. 

Objection. But is not a confession of sin a char- 
acter of a child of God ? Doth not the apostle 
say, "If we confess our sins, God is just and 
faithful to forgive them ;" no man was ever kept 
out of heaven for his confessed badness, though 
many are kept out of heaven for their supposed 
goodness. 

Judah, in Hebrew, signifies confession; now 
Judah got the kingdom from Reuben ; confession 
of sin is the way to the kingdom of heaven. 

There are some that confess sin, and are saved ; 
there are others that confess sin, and perish. 

1. Many confess sin merely out of custom, and 
not out of conscience ; you shall have many that 
will never pray, but they will make a long con- 
fession of sin, and yet never feel the weight or 
burden of it upon their consciences. 



62 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

2. Many will confess lesser sins, and yet con- 
ceal greater ; like the patient in Plutarch, that 
complained to his physician of his finger, when 
his liver was rotten. 

3. Many will confess sin in the general, or con- 
fess themselves sinners; and yet see little, and 
say less of their particular sins ; an implicit con- 
fession, as one saith, is almost as bad as an im- 
plicit faith. 

Where confession is right, it will be distinct, 
especially of those sins that were our chief sins. 
So David confesses his blood-guiltiness and adul- 
tery : so Paul his blasphemy, persecution, and in- 
jury against the saints. It is bad to hear men 
confess they are great sinners, and yet cannot 
confess their sins. Though the least sin be too 
bad to be committed, yet there is no sin too bad 
to be confessed. 

4. Many will confess sin, but it is only under 
extremity, that is, not free and voluntary. Pha- 
raoh confesses his sin, but it was when judgment 
compelled him. " I have sinned against the 
Lord," saith he ; but it was when he had had 
eight plagues upon him. 

5. Many do by their sins as mariners do by 
their goods, cast them out in a storm, wishing 
for them again in a calm. Confession should 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 63 

come like water out of a spring, which runs freely ; 
not like water out of a still, which is forced by fire. 

6. Many confess their sins, but with no intent 
to forsake sin ; they confess the sins they have 
committed, but do not leave the sins they have 
confessed. 

Many men use their confession as Lewis the 
eleventh of France did his crucifix ; he would 
swear an oath, and then kiss it ; and swear again, 
and then kiss it again. So many sin, and then 
confess they do not well, but yet never strive to 
do better. 

Mr. Torsel tells a story of a minister he knew, 
that would be often drunk, and when he came 
into the pulpit, would confess it very lamentingly ; 
and yet no sooner was he out of the pulpit, but 
he would be drunk again ; and this would he do 
as constantly as men follow their trades. 

Now then, if a man may confess sin merely 
out of custom ; if he may confess lesser sins, and 
yet conceal greater ; if he may confess sin only 
in the general, or only under extremity, or if he 
may confess sin without any intent to forsake sin, 
then surely a man may confess sin, and yet be but 
almost a Christian. 

Fourthly, A man may forsake sin, and yet be 

but almost a Christian ; he may leave his lust, 

7* 



64 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

and his wicked ways, which he sometimes lived 
in, and in the judgment of the world become a 
new man, and yet not be a new creature. Simon 
Magus, when he hears Philip preaching concern- 
ing the kingdom of God, leaves his sorcery and 
witchcraft, and believes. 

Objection. But you will say, this seems contra- 
ry to Scripture ; for that says, " He that con- 
fesseth and forsake th sin, shall have mercy ;" but 
I confess sin, yea, not only so, but also I forsake 
sin ; sure therefore this mercy is my portion, it 
belongs to me. 

Answer. It is true, that where a soul forsakes 
sin from a right principle, after a right manner, 
to a right end ; where he forsakes sin as sin, as 
being contrary to God, and the purity of his na- 
ture — this declares that soul to be right with God, 
and the promise shall be made good to it, " He 
shall find mercy." 

But now pray mind, there is a forsaking sin 
that is not right, but unsound. 

1. Open sins may be deserted, and yet secret 
sins may be retained ; now this is not a right 
forsaking ; such a soul shall never find mercy. 
A man may be cured of a wound in his flesh, and 
yet may die of an imposthume in his bowels. 

2. A man may forsake sin, but not as sin ; for 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 65 

he that forsakes sin as sin, forsakes all sin. It is 
impossible for a man to forsake sin as sin, unless 
he forsakes all that he knows to be sin. 

3. A man may let one sin go to hold another 
the faster ; as a man that goes to sea, would 
willingly save all his goods; but if the storm 
arises that he cannot, then he throws some over- 
board to lighten the vessel, and save the rest. 
So did they, Acts xxvii. 38. So the sinner 
chooses to keep all his sins ; but if a storm arises 
in his conscience, why then he will heave one lust 
overboard, to save the life of another. 

4. A man may let all sin go, and yet be a sin- 
ner still; for there is the root of all sin in the 
heart, though the fruit be not seen in the life ; the 
tree lives, though the boughs be lopped off. As 
a man is a sinner, before ever he acts sin, so (till 
grace renews him) he is a sinner, though he leaves 
sin ; for there is original sin in him enough to 
damn and destroy him. 

5. Sin may be left, and yet be loved ; a man 
may forsake the life of sin, and yet retain the love 
of sin : now, though leaving sin makes him at- 
most a Christian, yet loving sin shows he is but 
almost a Christian. It is a less evil to do sin, 
and not love it, than to love sin and not do it ; for to 
do sin may argue only weakness of grace, but 



66 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

to love sin argues strength of lust. " What I 
hate, that I do." Sin is bad in any part of man, 
but sin in the affection is worse than sin in the 
conversation ; for sin in the conversation may be 
only from infirmity, but sin in the affection is the 
fruit of choice and unregeneracy. 

6. All sin may be chained, and yet the heart 
not changed ; and so the nature of the sinner is 
the same as ever. A dog chained up, is a dog 
still, as much as if he was let loose to devour. 

There may be a cessation of arms between ene- 
mies, and yet the quarrel may remain on foot 
still : there may be a making truce, where there 
is no making peace. 

A sinner may lay the weapons of sin out of his 
hand, and yet the enmity against God still remain 
in his heart. There may be a truce — he may not 
sin against him ; but there can be no peace till he 
be united to him. 

Restraining grace holds in the sinner, but it is 
renewing grace that changes his nature. Now 
many are held in by grace from being open sin- 
ners, that are not renewed by grace, and made 
true believers. 

Now then, if a man may forsake open sins, and 
retain secret sins ; if he may forsake sin, but not 
as sin ; if he may let one sin go, to hold another 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 



67 



the faster ; if a man may let all sin go, and yet be 
a sinner still ; if sin may be left, and yet be loved : 
finally, if all sin may be chained, and yet the heart 
not changed ; — then a man may forsake sin, and 
yet be but almost a Christian. 

V. A man may hate sin, and yet be but almost 
a Christian. 

Absalom hated Amnon's uncleanness with his 
sister Tamar : yea, his hatred was so great, that 
he slew him for it ; and yet Absalom was but a 
wicked man. 

Objection. But the Scripture makes it a sign 
of a gracious heart, to hate sin ; yea, though a man 
do, through infirmities, fall into sin, yet if he hates 
it, this is a proof of grace. Paul proves the sin- 
cerity of his heart, and the truth of his grace, by 
this hatred of sin, though he committed it : "What 
I hate, that I do." Nay, what is grace but a 
conformity of the soul to God ; to love as God 
loves, to hate as God hates ? Now God hates 
sin : it is one part of his holiness to hate all sin. 
And if I hate sin, then am I conformed to God : 
and if I am conformed to God, then am I altogether 
a Christian. 

Answer. It is true, that there is a hatred of 
sin, which is a sign of grace, and which flows from 



68 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 



a principle of grace, and is grace. As for in- 
stance : 

To hate sin, as it is an offence to God, a wrong 
to his majesty ; to hate sin, as it is a breach of 
the command, and so a wicked controlling of 
God's will, which is the only rule of goodness ; 
to hate sin, as being a disingenuous transgression 
of that law of love established in the blood and 
death of Christ, and so, in a degree, a crucifying 
of Christ afresh. To hate sin, as being a grieving 
and quenching the Spirit of God, as all sin in its 
nature is. — Thus to hate sin, is grace ; and thus 
every true Christian hates sin. 

But, though every man that hath grace hates sin, 
yet every man that hates sin hath not grace : for, 
a man may hate sin from other principles, not as 
it is a wrong to God, or a wounding Christ, or a 
grieving the Spirit ; for then he would hate all sin ; 
for there is no sin but hath this in the nature of 
it. But, 

1. A man may hate sin for the shame that at- 
tends it, more than for the evil that is in it. Some 
sinners there are, " who declare their sin as So- 
dom, and hide it not." They are set down in the 
seat of the scornful ; " they glory in their shame." 
But now others there are who are ashamed of sin, 
and therefore hate it, not for the sin's sake, but 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 



69 



for the shame's sake. This made Absalom hate 
Amnon's uncleanness, because it brought shame 
upon him and his sister. 

2. A man may hate sin more in others, than in 
himself: so doth the drunkard— -he hates drunk- 
enness in another, and yet practises it himself ! the 
liar hates falsehood in another, but likes it him- 
self. Now he that hates sin from a principle of 
grace, hates sin most in himself; he hates sin in 
others, but he loathes most the sins of his own 
heart. 

3. A man may hate one sin as being contrary 
to another. There is a great contrariety between 
sin and sin, between lust and lust ; it is the excel- 
lency of the life of grace, that it is a uniform life ; 
there is no one grace contrary to another. The 
graces of God's Spirit are different, but not differ- 
ing. Faith, and love, and holiness, are all one : 
they consist together at the same time, in the 
same subject ; nay, they cannot be parted. There 
can be no faith without love, no love without holi- 
ness ; and so, on the other hand, no holiness with- 
out love; no love without faith. So that this 
makes the life of grace an easy and excellent life ; 
but now the life of sin is a distracting contradic- 
tious life, wherein a man is a servant to contrary 
lusts : the lust of pride and prodigality is contrary 



70 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

to the lust of covetousness, &c. Now, where one 
lust gets to be the master-lust of the soul, then 
that works a hatred of its contrary. Where cove- 
tousness gets the heart, there the heart hates 
pride ; and where pride gets uppermost in the 
heart, there the heart hates covetousness. Thus 
a man may hate sin, not from a principle of grace, 
but from the contrariety of lust. He does not 
hate any sin, as it is sin ; but he hates it, as being 
contrary to his beloved sin. 

Now then, if a man may hate sin for the shame 
that attends it ; if he may hate sin more in others 
than himself; if he may hate one sin as being 
contrary to another ; — then he may hate sin, and 
yet be but almost a Christian. 

VI. A man may make great vows and promises 
— he may have strong purposes and resolutions 
against sin, and yet be but almost a Christian. 

Thus did Saul ; he promises and resolves against 
his sin : " Return, my son David," saith he, " for 
I will no more do thee harm." What promises 
and resolves did Pharaoh make against that sin 
of detaining God's people? — saith he, "I will let 
the people go, that they may do sacrifice to the 
Lord." And again, "I will let ye go, and ye 
shall stay no longer." And yet Saul and Pha- 
raoh both perished in their sins. The greatest 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 



11 



purposes and promises against sin will not make a 
man a Christian : for, 

1. Purposes and promises against sin, never 
hurt sin : we say, " threatened folks live long ;" 
and truly so do threatened sins. It is not new 
purposes, but a new nature, that must help us 
against sin : purposes may bring to the birth, but 
without a new nature, there is no strength to 
bring forth. The new nature is the best soil for 
holy purposes to grow in ; otherwise, they wither 
and. die, like plants in an improper soil. 

2. Troubles and afflictions may provoke us to 
large purposes and promises against sin for the 
future. What more common, than to vow, and 
not to pay ? to make vows in the day of trouble, 
which we make no conscience to pay in the day 
of grace? Many covenant against sin, when 
trouble is upon them ; and then sin against their 
covenant, when it is removed from them. It was 
a brave rule that Pliny, in one of his epistles, gave 
his friend to live by, " That we should continue 
to be such when we are well, as we promise to 
be when we are sick." Many are our sick-bed 
promises, but we are no sooner well, than we 
grow sick of our promises. 

3. Purposes and resolves against sin for the 
future, may be only a temptation to put off re- 

8 



72 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

pentance for the present. Satan may put a man 
on to good purposes, to keep him from present 
attempts. He knows whatever we purpose, yet 
the strength of performance is not in ourselves. 
He knows, that purposes for the future are a put- 
ting God off for the present; they are a secret 
will not, to a present opportunity. That is a 
notable passage, "Follow me," saith Christ, to 
the two men. Now see what answers they gave 
to Christ ; — " Surfer me first to go and bury my 
father," says one. This man purposes to follow 
Christ, only he would stay to bury his father. 
Says the other, "Lord, I will follow thee, but 
let me first go and bid them farewell which are 
at my house :'" I will follow thee, but only I 
would first go and take my leave of my friends, 
or set my house in order ; and yet we do not find 
that ever they followed Christ notwithstanding 
their fair purposes. 

4. Nature unsanctified may be so far wrought 
on, as to make great promises and purposes 
against sin. 

1st, A natural man may have great convic- 
tions of sin, from the workings of an enlightened 
conscience. 

2d, He may approve of the law of God. 

3d, He may have a desire to be saved. 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. *73 

Now these three together — the workings of 
conscience ; the sight of the goodness of the law; 
a desire to be saved, — may bring forth in a man 
great purposes against sin, and yet he may have 
no heart to perform his own purposes. This 
was much like the case of them — say they to 
Moses, "Go thou near, and hear all that the 
Lord our God shall say : and tell thou it to us, 
and we will hear it, and do it." This is a fak* 
promise, and so God takes it : "I have heard the 
words of this people ; they have w r ell said all 
they have spoken." So said, and so done, had 
been well ; but it was better said than done ; for 
though they had a tongue to promise, yet they 
had no heart to perform ; and this God saw : 
therefore said he, " that there were such an 
heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep 
my commandments always, that it might be well 
with them !" They promised to fear God, and 
keep his commandments ; but they wanted a new 
heart to perform what an unsanctified heart had 
promised. It fares with men in this case, as it 
did with that son in the gospel, that said, " He 
would go into the vineyard, but went not." 

Now then, if purposes and promises against 
sin, never hurt sin ; if present afflictions may 
draw out large promises ; if they may be the 



74 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

fruit of a temptation — or, if from nature unsanc- 
tified ; surely then a man may promise and pur- 
pose much against sin, and yet be but almost a 
Christian. 

VII. A man may maintain a strife and combat 
against sin in himself, and yet be but almost a 
Christian. So did Balaam : when he went to 
curse the people of God, he had a great strife 
within himself. " How shall I curse," saith he, 
" whom God hath not cursed ? or how shall I 
defy whom the Lord hath not defied ?" And 
did not Pilate strive against his sin, when he said 
to the Jews, " Shall I crucify your king ? what 
evil hath he done. I am innocent of the blood 
of this just man." 

Objection. But you will say, " Is not this an 
argument of grace, when there is a striving in the 
soul against sin ? for what should oppose sin in 
the heart but grace ? The apostle makes " the 
lusting of the flesh against the Spirit, and the 
Spirit against the flesh," to be an argument of 
grace in the heart. Now I find this strife in my 
heart, though the remainders of corruption some- 
times break out into actual sins, yet I find a 
striving in my soul against sin, 

Answer. It is true, there is a striving against 
sin, which is only from grace, and is proper to 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 75 

believers ; and there is a striving against sin, 
which is not from grace, and therefore may be in 
them that are not believers. There is a strife 
against sin in one and the same faculty ; the will 
against the will — the affection against the affec- 
tion ; and this is that which the apostle calls 
"the lusting of the flesh against the spirit;" that 
is, the striving of the unregenerate part against 
the regenerate ; and this is ever in the same 
faculty, and is proper to believers only. 

An unbeliever never finds this strife in himself. 
This strife cannot be in him ; it is impossible, as 
such ; that is, while he is on this side a state of 
grace. But then there is a striving against sin in 
divers faculties ; and this is the strife that is in 
them that are not believers. There, the strife is 
between the will and the conscience ; conscience 
enlightened and terrified with the fear of hell and 
damnation — that is against sin ; the will and af- 
fection, not being renewed, they are for sin. And 
this causes great tugging and combats many times 
in the sinner's heart. Thus it was with the 
Scribes and Pharisees. Conscience convinced 
them of the divinity of Christ, and of the truth 
of his being the Son of God ; and yet a perverse 
will, and carnal affections, cry out, " Crucify him ! 
Crucify him!" — Conscience pleaded for him. 

8* 



76 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 



He had a witness in their bosoms ; and yet their 
wills were bent against him : and therefore they 
are said " to have resisted the Spirit ;" namely, 
the workings and convictions of the Spirit in their 
consciences. And this is the case of many sin- 
ners : when the will and affections are for sin, 
and plead for it, conscience is against it, and 
many times frights the soul from the doing of it. 
And hence men take that which opposes sin in 
them to be grace, when it is only the work of a 
natural conscience. They conclude the strife is 
between grace and sin — the regenerate and unre- 
generate part; when, alas ! it is no other than the 
contention of a natural conscience against a cor- 
rupt will and affections. — And if so, then a man 
may have great strifes and combats against sin in 
him ; and yet be but almost a Christian. 

5. A man may desire grace, and yet be but al- 
most a Christian. So did the five foolish virgins : 
" Give us of your oil." What was that but true 
grace? It was that oil that lighted the wise 
virgins into the bridegroom's chamber. They do 
not only desire to enter in, but they desire oil to 
light them in. Wicked men may desire heaven 
— desire a Christ to save them ; there is none so 
wicked upon earth, but desire to be happy in 
heaven. But now here are they that desire grace 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 77 

as well as glory, and yet these are hut almost 
Christians. 

Objection, But is it not commonly taught that 
desires of grace are grace ? nay, doth not our Lord 
Christ make it so ? — " Blessed are they that 
hunger and thirst after righteousness ; for they 
shall be filled." 

Answer, It is true, that there are some desires 
of grace which are grace : as, 

1 . When a man desires grace from a right sense 
of his natural state ; when he sees the vileness of 
sin, and the woful, defiled, and loathsome condi- 
tion he is in by reason of sin ; and therefore de- 
sires the grace of Christ to renew and change 
him, — this is grace. This some make to be the 
lowest degree of saving faith. 

2. When a man joins proportionable endeavors 
to his desires ; doth not only wish for grace, but 
work for grace ; such desires are grace. 

3. When a man's desires are constant and in- 
cessant, that cease not but in the attainment of 
their object ; such desires are true grace. They 
are a part of the especial work of the Spirit. 
They do really partake of the nature of grace ; 
now it is a known maxim, " that which partakes 
of the nature of the whole, is a part of the whole ;" 
the filings of gold are gold. The sea is not more 



78 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 



really water, than the least drop ; the flame is not 
more really fire than the least spark. 

But though all true desires of grace, are grace ; 
yet all desires of grace, are not true : for, 

1. A man may desire grace, but not for itself, 
but for somewhat else ; not for grace's sake, but 
for heaven's sake : he doth not desire grace, that 
his nature may be changed, his heart renewed, 
the image of God stamped upon him, and his 
lusts subdued in him. These are blessed desires, 
found only in true believers. The true Christian 
only can desire grace for grace's sake ; but the 
almost Christian may desire grace for heaven's 
sake. 

2. A man may desire grace without proportion- 
able endeavors after grace ; many are good at 
wishing, but bad at working ; like him that lay 
in the grass on a summer's day, crying out, " 
that this were to work?" Solomon saith, " The 
desire of the slothful kills him." How so ? " For 
his hands refuse to labor ;" He perisheth in his 
desires. The believer joins desires and endeavors 
together : " One thing have I desired of the Lord, 
and that will I seek after." 

3. A man's desires of grace may be unseason- 
able : thus the foolish virgins desired oil when it 
was too late. The believer's desires are season- 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 79 

able ; he desires grace in the season of grace, and 
seeks in a time when it may be found. " The 
wise man's heart knows both time and judgment." 
He knows his season, and hath wisdom to improve 
it. The silly sinner doth all his works out of 
season ; he sends away the seasons of grace, and 
then desires grace when the season is over. The 
sinner doth all too late ; as Esau desired the bless- 
ing when it was too late, and therefore he lost it ; 
whereas, had he come sooner, he had obtained it. 
Most men are like Epimetheus, wise too late, they 
come when the market is done ; when the shop 
is closed, then they have their oil to get. When 
they lie upon their death-beds, then they desire 
holy hearts. 

4. Desires of grace in many are very inconstant 
and fleeting, like the " morning dew, that quickly 
passes away:" or like Jonah's gourd, that springs 
up in a night, and withers in a night : they have 
no root in the heart, and therefore quickly perish. 
Now, if a man may desire grace, but not for 
grace's sake ; if desires may be without endeav- 
ors ; if a man may desire grace when it is too 
late ; if these desires may be but fleeting and in- 
constant ; then may a man desire grace, and yet 
be but almost a Christian. 

5. A man may tremble at the word of God and 



80 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

yet be but almost a Christian, as Belshazzar did 
at the handwriting upon the wall. 

Objection. But is not that a note of sincerity 
and truth of grace, to tremble at the word ? Doth 
not God say, " To him will I look that is of a poor 
and contrite spirit, and trembles at my word ?" 

Answer. There is a two -fold trembling. 

1. One is, when the word discovers the guilt 
of sin, and the wrath of God that belongs to that 
guilt; this, where conscience is awake, causes 
trembling and amazement : thus, when Paul 
preached of righteousness and judgment, it is said 
Felix trembled. 

2. There is a trembling which arises from a 
holy dread and reverence of the majesty of God, 
speaking in his word ; this is only found in true 
believers, and is that which keeps the soul low in 
its own eyes. Therefore mark how the words 
run: "To him will I look that is of a poor and 
contrite spirit, and trembles at my word." God 
does not make the promise to him that trembles 
at the word ; for the devils believe and tremble ; 
the word of God can make the proudest, stoutest 
sinner in the world to shake and tremble,— but it 
is " to the poor and contrite spirit that trembles." 
Where trembling is the fruit of a spirit broken for 
sin, and low in its own eyes ; there will God look. 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 81 

Now many tremble at the word, but not from 
poverty of spirit, not from a heart broken for sin, 
and low in its own eyes; not from a sense of the 
majesty and holiness of God : and therefore, not- 
withstanding they tremble at the word, yet they 
are but almost Christians. 

3. A man may delight in the word, and ordi- 
nances of God, and yet be but almost a Christian : 
" They take delight in approaching to God." 
And it is said of that ground, that it " received 
the word with joy," and yet it was but "stony 
ground." 

Objection. But is it not made a character of a 
godly man, to delight in the word of God? Doth 
not David say, " He is a blessed man that de- 
lights in the law of the Lord ?" 

Answer. There is a delighting in the word, 
which flows from grace, and is a proof of blessed- 
ness. 

1. He that delights in the word, because of 
its spirituality, he is a Christian indeed ; the more 
spiritual the ordinances are, the more doth a 
gracious heart delight in them. ' 

2. When the word comes close to the con- 
science, rips up the heart, and discovers sin, and 
yet the soul delights in it notwithstanding; this 
is a sign of grace. 



82 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 



3. When delight arises from that communion 
that is to be had with God there, this is from a 
principle of grace in the soul. 

But there may be a delight in the word, where 
there is no grace. 

1. There are many who delight in the word 
because of the eloquence of the preacher : they 
delight not so much in the truth delivered, as in 
the dress in which they are delivered. Thus it 
is said of the prophet Ezekiel, that he was to 
them a asa very lovely song of one that hath a 
pleasant voice." 

2. There are very many who delight to hear 
the word, that yet take no delight to do it : so 
saith God of them, " They delight to hear my 
words, but they do them not." 

Now then, if a man may delight in the word, 
more because of the eloquence of the preacher, 
than because of the spirituality of the matter ; if 
he may delight to hear the word, and yet not de- 
light to do it, — then he may delight in the word, 
and yet be but almost a Christian. 

VIII. A man may be a member of the church 
of Christ, he may join himself to the people of 
God, partake with them in all ordinances, and 
share of all church privileges, and yet be but al- 
most a Christian. 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 83 

So the five foolish virgins joined themselves to 
the wise, and walked together. Many may be 
members of the church of Christ, and yet not 
members of Christ, the head of the church. 
There was a mixed multitude came up with the 
church of Israel out of Egypt : they joined them- 
selves to the Israelites, owned their God, left 
their own country, and yet were in heart Egyp- 
tians notwithstanding ; "All are not Israel, that 
are of Israel." 

The church in all ages hath had unsound mem- 
bers : Cain had communion with Abel ; Ishmael 
dwelt in the same house with Isaac ; Judas was 
in fellowship with the apostles ; and so was De- 
mas with the rest of the disciples. There will 
be some bran in the finest meal : the drag-net of 
the Gospel catches bad 'fish as well as good ; the 
tares and the wheat grow together, and it will be 
so till the harvest. 

God hath a church where there are no mem- 
bers but such as are true members of Christ, but 
it is in heaven, it is the " church of the first-born ;" 
there are no hypocrites, nor rotten, unsound pro- 
fessors, none but the " spirits of just men made 
perfect :" all is pure wheat that God layeth up 
in that garner ; there the chaff is separated to 
unquenchable fire. 

9 



84 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 



But in the church on earth the wheat and the 
chaff lie in the same heap together ; the Samari- 
tans will be near of kin to the Jews when they 
are in prosperity : so while the church of God 
flourisheth in the world, many will join to it ; 
they will seem Jews, though they are Samaritans ; 
and seem saints, though yet they are no better 
than almost Christians. 

IX. A man may have great hopes of heaven, 
great hopes of being saved, and yet be but almost 
a Christian. 

Indeed there is a hope of heaven which is 
" the anchor of the soul sure and steadfast," it 
never miscarries, and it is known by four prop- 
erties. 

First, It is a hope that purines the heart, 
purges out sin : " He that hath this hope, puri- 
fies himself even as God is pure." That soul 
that truly hopes to enjoy God, truly endeavors to 
be like God. 

Secondly, It is a hope which fills the heart 
with gladness : " We rejoice in hope of the glory 
of God." 

Thirdly, It is a hope that is founded upon the 
promise : as there can be no true faith without a 
promise, so, nor any true hope. Faith applies 
the promise, and hope expects the fulfilling the 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 85 

promise : faith relies upon the truth of it, and 
hope waits for the good of it ; faith gives interest, 
hope expects livery and seisin. 

Fourthly, It is a hope that is wrought by God 
himself in the soul ; who is therefore called, " the 
God of hope," as being the Author as well as 
the Object of hope. Now, he that hath this hope 
shall never miscarry. This is a right hope ; the 
hope of the true believer : " Christ in you, the 
hope of glory." But then, as there is a true and 
sound hope, so there is a false and rotten hope ; 
and this is much more common, as bastard-pearls 
are more frequently worn than true pearls. 

There is nothing more common, than to see 
men big with groundless hopes of heaven : as, 

1. A man may have great hope that hath no 
grace; you read of the "hope of hypocrites." 
The performance of duties is a proof of their hope ; 
the foolish virgins would never have done what 
they did, had they thought they should have 
been shut out after all. Many professors would 
not be at such pains in duties as they are, if they 
did not hope for heaven. Hope is the great mo- 
tive to action: despair cuts the sinews of all en- 
deavors. That is one reason why the damned 
in hell cease acting toward an alteration of their 
state, because despair hath taken hold of them : 



86 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 



if there were any hope in hell, they would up and 
be doing there. So that there may be great hope 
where there is no grace ; experience proves this ; 
formal professors are men of no grace, but yet 
men of great hopes ; nay, many times you shull 
find that none fear more about their eternal con- 
dition, than they that have most cause of hope, 
and none hope more than they that have most 
cause of fear. As interest in hope may some- 
times be without hope, so hope in God may be 
without interest. 

2. A man may hope in the mercy, and goodness, 
and power of God, without eyeing the promise ; 
and this is the hope of most : God is full of mercy 
and goodness, and therefore willing to save ; and 
he is infinite in power, and therefore able to save ; 
why therefore should I not rest on him ? 

Now it is presumption, and therefore sin, to 
hope in the mercy of God, otherwise than by eye- 
ing the promise ; for the promise is the channel 
of mercy, through which it is conveyed ; all the 
blessedness the saints enjoy in heaven, is no other 
than what is the fruit of promise relied on, and 
hoped for here*on earth. A man hath no warrant 
to hope in God, but by virtue of the promise. 

3. A man may hope for heaven, and yet not 
cleanse his heart, nor depart from his secret sins ; 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 87. 

that hope of salvation that is not accompanied 
with heart-purification, is a vain hope. 

4. A man may hope for heaven, and yet be 
doing the work of hell ; he may hope for salva- 
tion, and yet be working out his own damnation, 
and so perish in his confidences. This is the case 
of many, like the water-man that looks one way, 
and rows another ; many have their eyes on heaven 
whose hearts are in the earth ; they hope in God, 
but choose him not for a portion ; they hope in 
God, but do not love him as the best good, and 
therefore are like to have no portion in him, nor 
good by him ; but are like to perish without him, 
notwithstanding all their hopes : " What is the 
hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, 
when God takes away his soul ?" 

Now then, if a man may have great hope of 
heaven, that hath no grace ; if he may hope in 
mercy, without eyeing the promise ; if he may 
hope without heart-purifying ; if he may hope for 
heaven, and yet do the work of hell ; surely then 
a man may have great hopes of heaven, and yet 
be but almost a Christian. 

X. A man may be under great and visible 

changes, and these wrought by the ministry of 

the word, and yet be but almost a Christian, as 

Herod was. It is said, " when he heard John 

9* 



88 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

Baptist, he did many things, and heard him 
gladly." Saul was under a great change when 
he met the Lord's prophets ; he turned prophet 
too. Nay, it is said, verse 9th of that chapter, 
that " God gave him another heart." Now, was 
not this a work of grace ? and was not Saul here 
truly converted ? One would think he was ; but 
3^et indeed he was not. For though it is said, 
God gave him another heart, yet it is not said, 
that God gave him a new heart. There is a 
great difference between another heart, and a 
new heart ; God gave him another heart to fit 
him for a ruler, but gave him not a new heart to 
make him a believer ; another heart may make 
another man, but it is a new heart that makes a 
new man. 

Again Simon Magus is a great proof of this 
truth : he was under a great and visible change ; 
of a sorcerer he was turned to be a believer ; he 
left his witchcrafts and sorceries, and embraced 
the gospel ; was not this a great change ? If the 
drunkard doth but leave his drunkenness, the 
swearer his oaths, the profane person his profane- 
ness, they think this is a gracious change, and 
their state is now good. Alas ! Simon Magus did 
not only leave his sins, but had a kind of conver- 
sion ; for, " he believed, and was baptized." 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 89 

Objection. But is not that man that is changed, 
a true Christian ? 

Answer. Not every change makes a man a 
Christian : indeed there is a change, that whoever 
is under it is a true Christian. 

When a man's heart is so changed, as that it 
is renewed : when old things " are done away, 
and all is become new :" when the new creature 
is wrought in the soul, when a man is " turned 
from darkness to light, from the power of Satan 
to God ;" when the mind is enlightened, the will 
renewed, the affections made heavenly : then a 
man is a Christian indeed. 

But now you must know that every change is 
not this change. For, 

1. There is a civil change, a moral change, as 
well as a spiritual and supernatural change. 

Many men are changed in a moral sense, and 
one may say, they are become new men ; but they 
are in heart and nature the same men still. They 
are not changed in a spiritual and supernatural 
sense, and therefore it cannot be said of them, 
they are become new creatures. 

Restraining grace may cause a moral change ; 
but it is renewing grace that must cause a sav- 
ing change. Now, many are under restraining 
grace, and so changed morally, that are not 



90 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

under the power of saving grace, and so changed 
savingly. 

2. There is an outward change, as well as an 
inward change : the outward change is often 
without the inward, though the inward change is 
never without the outward. A man's heart can- 
not be sanctified, but it will influence the life ; 
but a man's life may be reformed, and yet never 
affect or influence the heart. 

3. A man may be converted from a course of 
profaneness, to a form of godliness ; from a filthy 
conversation, to a fair profession ; and yet the 
heart be the same in one and the other. A rotten 
post may be gilt without, and yet unsound within. 
It is common to have the " outside of the cup and 
platter" made clean, and yet the inside foul and 
filthy. 

[Now then, if a man may be changed morally, 
and yet not spiritually — outwardly, and yet not 
inwardly, from a course of profaneness to a life- 
less form of godliness ; then a man may be under 
great and visible changes, and yet be no more 
than almost a Christian. 

I do not speak this to discountenance any 
change, short of that which is spiritual ; but to 
awaken you to seek after that change which is 
more than moral. It is good to be outwardly 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 91 

renewed, but it is better to be savingly renewed. 
I know how natural it is for men to take up with 
anything like a work of conversion, though it be 
not conversion ; and resting in that, they eternally 
perish. 

Beloved, let me tell you, there is no change, no 
conversion, can stead your souls in the day of 
judgment, on this side that saving work, which 
is wrought on the soul by the Spirit of God, re- 
newing you throughout : the sober man, without 
this change, shall as surely go to hell, as the fool- 
ish drunkard. Morality and civility may com- 
mend us to men, but not to God. They are of 
no value in the procurement of an eternal salva- 
tion. 

A man may go far in an outward change, and 
yet be not one step nearer heaven, than he that 
was never under any change ; — nay, he may be, 
in some sense, further off; as Christ saith, the 
Scribes and Pharisees were further from heaven, 
with all their show of godliness, than publicans 
and harlots, in all their sin and uncleanness. Be- 
cause, resting in a false work, a partial change, 
we neglect to seek after a true and saving change. 
There is nothing more common than to mistake 
our state, and by overweening thoughts, mis- 
judge our condition, and so perish in our own delu- 



92 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

sions. The world is full of these foolish builders, 
that lay the foundation of their hopes of eternal 
salvation upon the sand. 

Now, my brethren, would you not mistake the 
way to heaven, and perish in a delusion ? Would 
you not be found fools at last ? for none are such 
fools as the spiritual fool, who is a fool in the 
great business of salvation. Would you not be 
fools for your souls, and for eternity ? then 
labor after, and pray for, a thorough work of con- 
version! Beg of God that he would make a 
saving change in your souls, that ye may be al- 
together Christians ! All other changes below 
this saving change, this heart change, make us 
but almost Christians. 

XL A man may be very zealous in the mat- 
ters of religion, and yet be but almost a Christian. 

Jehu did not only serve God, and do what he 
commanded him, but was very zealous in his ser- 
vice : " Come with me, and see my zeal for the 
Lord of hosts !" and yet in all this Jehu was a 
very hypocrite. Joash was a great reformer in 
Jehoiada's time ; it is said, " He did that which 
was right in the sight of the Lord, all the days of 
Jehoiada the priest." But when Jehoiada died, 
Joash's zeal for God died with him, and he be- 
comes a very wretch. 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 93 

Objection. But the apostle makes zeal to be a 
note of sound Christianity : " It is good to be zeal- 
ously affected in good things ;" nay, it seems to 
be the non-such qualification for obtaining eternal 
life ; "The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, 
and the violent take it by force. " 

Answer. It is true, there is a zeal which is 
good, and which renders the soul highly accept- 
able to God — a zeal, that never misses of heaven 
and salvation. Now this is a zeal which is a 
celestial fire ; the true temper and heat of all the 
affections to God and Christ. It is a zeal wrought 
and kindled in the soul by the Spirit of God, who 
first works it, and then sets it on work. It is a 
zeal that hath the word of God for its guide, di- 
recting it in working, both in regard of its object 
and end, manner and measure. It is a zeal that 
checks sin, and forwards the heavenly life. It is 
a zeal that makes the glory of God its chief end ; 
which swallows up all by-ends : " The zeal of thy 
house hath eaten me up." 

But now all zeal is not this kind of zeal : there 
is a false zeal, as well as a true : every grace 
hath its counterfeit. As there is fire, which is 
true heavenly fire, on the altar, so there is strange 
fire : Nadab and Abihu offered strange fire upon 
God's altar. 



94 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

There are several kinds of zeal, none of which 
are true and sound, but false and counterfeit. 

I shall instance in eight particulars : 

First, There is a blind zeal, a zeal without 
knowledge. " They have a zeal/' saith the apostle, 
"but not according to knowledge." Now as 
knowledge without zeal is fruitless, so zeal with- 
out knowledge is dangerous. It is like wild-fire 
in the hand of a fool ; or, like the devil in the 
man possessed, that threw him sometimes into 
the fire, sometimes into the water. 

The eye is the light of the body, and the under- 
standing is the light of the soul. Now, as the 
body, without the light of the eye, cannot go 
without stumbling ; so the soul, without the light 
of the mind, cannot act without erring. Zeal 
without knowledge, is like an ignis fatuus in a dark 
night, that leads a traveller out of his way, into 
the bogs and mire. This was the zeal of Paul, 
while he was a Pharisee : " I was zealous towards 
God, as ye are all this day ; and I persecuted this 
way unto the death." And again, "I verily 
thought with myself, I ought to do many things 
contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth." And, 
" Concerning zeal, persecuting the church." Such 
a zeal was that in John, " They shall put you out 
of the synagogue," — silence you, you shall not be 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 95 

suffered to preach; — "yea, the time comes, that 
whoever kills you, will think that he doth God 
service/ ' This is great zeal, but yet it is blind 
zeal ; and that God abhors. 

Secondly, There is a partial zeal : in one thing, 
fire hot — in another key-cold ; zealous in this 
thing, and yet careless in another. Many are 
first-table Christians, zealous in the duties of the 
first-table, and yet neglect the second. Thus the 
Pharisees were zealous in their Corban, and yet 
unnatural to their parents, suffering them to starve 
and perish. Others are second-table Christians, 
zealous in the duties of the second- table, but 
neglect the first ; more for righteousness among 
men, than for holiness towards God. But now 
he whose religion ends with the first-table, or be- 
gins with the second, he is a fool in his profession ; 
for he is but almost a Christian. 

The woman that was for the dividing the child, 
was not the true mother ; and he that is for divi- 
ding the commands, is not a true believer. 

Jehu was zealous against Ahab's house, but 
not so against Jeroboam's calves ; many are zeal- 
ous against sin of opinion, that yet use no zeal 
against the sins of their conversation. 

Now, as we know that the sweat of the whole 
body is a sign of health, but the sweat of some 

10 



96 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

one part only, shows a distemper, and therefore 
physicians do reckon such a heat to be symptom- 
atica!. So where zeal reaches to every command 
of God alike, that is a sign of a sound constitution 
of soul ; but where it is partial, where a man is 
hot in one part, and cold in another, that is symp- 
tomatica! of some inward spiritual distemper. 

Thirdly, There is a misplaced zeal ; fixed upon 
unsuitable and disproportionable objects. Many 
are very zealous in trifling things that are not 
worth it, and trifling in the things that most re- 
quire it; like the Pharisees that were diHgent 
tythers of mint, anise, and cummin, but neglected 
the "weightier matters of the law; judgment, 
mercy, and faith." They had no zeal for these, 
though very hot for the other ; many are more 
zealous for a ceremony, than for the substance of 
religion ; more zealous for bowing at the name of 
Jesus, than for conformity to the life of Jesus ; 
more zealous for a holy vestment, than for a holy 
life ; more zealous for the inventions of men, than 
for the institutions of Christ. This is a supersti- 
tious zeal, and usually found in men unconverted, 
in whom grace never was wrought. Against such 
men heathens will rise up in judgment. When 
was it that Paul was so "exceeding zealous of the 
traditions of his fathers," as he saith, but only 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 97 

when he was in his wretched and unconverted 
state ? as you may see in the next verses : " But 
when it pleased God to call me by his grace, then 
I conferred not with flesh and blood." Paul had 
another kind of zeal then, actuated by other kind 
of principles. 

Fourthly, There is a selfish zeal, that hath a 
man's own end for its motive ; Jehu was very 
zealous, but it was not so much for God, as for 
the kingdom ; not so much in obedience to the 
command, as in design to step into the throne ; 
and therefore God threatens to punish him for 
that very thing he commands him to do : "I will 
avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of 
Jehu:" because he shed that blood, to gratify his 
lust, not to obey God. So Simeon and Levi pre- 
tend great zeal for circumcision, seem very zeal- 
ous for the honor of God's ordinances, when in 
truth their zeal was covetousness, and revenge 
upon the Shechemites. 

Fifthly, There is an outside zeal : such was that 
of the Scribes and Pharisees ; they would not eat 
with unwashed hands, but yet would live in un- 
seen sins ; they would wash the cup often, but 
the heart seldom ; paint the outside, but neglect 
the inside. Jehu was a mighty ourside reformer, 
but he reformed nothing within, for he had a base 



i 



98 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

heart under all. " Jehu took no heed to walk in 
the law of the Lord with all his heart." Though 
his fleece was fair, his liver was rotten. Our Lord 
Christ observes of the Pharisees, " They pray, to 
be seen of men ;" and fast, so " that they may 
appear to men to fast." 

Sixthly, There is a forensic zeal, that runs out 
upon others : like the candle in the lantern, that 
sends all the heat out at the top ; or as the lewd 
woman Solomon mentions, whose " feet abide not 
in her own house." 

Many are hot and high against the sins of 
others, and yet cannot see the same in themselves ; 
like the Lamiae, that put on their spectacles when 
they went abroad, but pulled them off within 
doors. 

It is easy to see faults in others, and as hard to 
see them in ourselves. Jehu was zealous against 
Baal and his priests, because that was Ahab's sin ; 
but not against the calves of Bethel, because that 
was his own sin. This zeal is the true character 
of a hypocrite ; his own garden is overrun with 
weeds, while he is busy in looking over his neigh- 
bor's pale. 

Seventhly, There is a sinful zeal : all the former 
may be called sinful from some defect ; but this I 
call sinful in a more special notion, because against 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 99 

the life and chief of religion. It is a zeal, against 
zeal, that flies not at profaneness, but at the very 
power of godliness; not at error, but at truth; 
and is most hot against the most spiritual and im- 
portant truths of the times. Whence else are 
the sufferings of men for the truth, but from the 
spirit of zeal against the truth ? This may be 
called a devilish zeal ; for as there is the faith of 
devils, so there is the zeal of devils: "Therefore 
his rage is great, because he knows his time is 
short." 

Eighthly, there is a scrip tureless zeal, that is 
not butted and bounded by the word, but by some 
base and low end. Such was Saul's zeal, when 
God bids him destroy Amalek, " and spare neither 
man nor beast ;" when contrary to God's com- 
mand, he spares the best of the sheep and oxen, 
under pretence of zeal for God's sacrifice. Another 
time, when he had no such command, then he 
slew the Gibeonites "in zeal to the children of 
Israel and Judah." 

Many a man's zeal is greater then and there, 
when and where he hath the least warrant from 
God. The true spirit of zeal is bounded by Scrip- 
ture ; for it is for God and the concerns of his 
glory : God hath no glory from that zeal that hath 
no scripture-warrant. 

10* 



100 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

ISTow then, if the zeal of a man in the things of 
God may be only a blind zeal, or a partial zeal, 
or a misplaced zeal, or a selfish zeal, or an out- 
side zeal, or a forensic zeal, or a sinful zeal, or a 
scriptureless zeal ; then it is evident, that a man 
may be very zealous in the matters of religion, 
and yet be but almost a Christian. 

XII. A man may be much in prayer — he may 
pray often, and pray much ; and yet be but almost 
a Christian. So did the Pharisees, whom yet our 
Lord Christ rejects for hypocrites. 

Objection. But is not a praying-frame an argu- 
ment of a sincere heart ? Are not the saints of 
God called "the generation of them that seek the 
face of God?" 

Answer. A man is not therefore a Christian, 
because he is much in prayer. I grant that those 
prayers that are from the workings and sigliings 
of God's Spirit in us ; from sincere hearts lifted 
up to God ; from a sense of our own emptiness, 
and God's infinite fulness; that are suited to God's 
will, the great rule of prayer ; that are for spirit- 
ual things, more than temporal ; that are accom- 
panied with faith and dependence, — such prayers 
speak a man altogether a Christian. But now a 
man may be much in prayer, and yet be a stranger 
to such prayer ; as, 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 101 

1. Nature may put a man upon prayer ; for it 
is a part of natural worship. It may put a child 
of God upon prayer ; — -so did Christ : " He went 
and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, my 
Father ! if it be possible, let this cup pass from 
me." This was a prayer of Christ which flowed 
from the sinless stragglings of nature, seeking its 
own preservation. 

2. A man may pray in pretence, for a covering 
to some sin: so did those devout Pharisees: 
" Wo to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! 
for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence 
make long prayers : therefore ye shall receive 
the greater damnation." So the Papists seem 
very devout to pray a rich man's soul out of pur- 
gatory ; but it is to cheat the heir of much of his 
estate, under pretence of praying for his father's 
soul. 

3 . A man may pray, and yet love sin ; as 
Austin before conversion prayed against his sin, 
but was afraid God should hear him, and take 
him at his word. Now, God hears not such 
prayers : " If I regard iniquity in my heart, God 
will not hear my prayer." 

4. A man may pray much for temporal things, 
and little for spiritual things ; and such are the 
prayers of most men, crying out most for tempo- 



102 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

ral things. More for, " Who will show us any- 
good ?" than for, " Lord, lift upon us the light of 
thy countenance." David copies out the prayer 
of such : " That our sons may be as plants, and 
that our daughters may be as corner-stones, 
polished after the similitude of a palace : that our 
garners may be full, &c. Happy is the people 
that is in such a case !" This is the carnal prayer ; 
and this David calls vanity — " They are strange 
children, whose mouth speaketh vanity. " 

5. A man may pray, and yet be far from God 
in prayer : " This people draw nigh to me with 
their mouths, and honor me with their lips, but 
their heart is far from me." A man may pray, 
and yet have no heart in prayer ; and that God 
chiefly looks at : " My son, give me thy heart." 

The Jews have this sentence written upon the 
walls of their synagogues : " Prayer, without 
the intention of the mind, is but a body without 
a soul." 

It is not enough to be conscionable to use 
prayer, but we must be conscionable to the use 
of prayer. Many are so conscientious that they 
dare not but pray ; and yet so irreligious, that 
they have no heart in prayer. A common work 
of God may make a man conscionable to do du- 
ties, but nothing less than giving grace in the 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 103 

heart, will make a man conscionable in the doing 
of them. 

6. A man's prayer may be a lie. As a pro- 
fession without sanctity is a lie to the world, so 
prayer without sincerity, is a lie to God. It is 
said of Israel, that they "sought God, and in- 
quired early after him." They were much in 
prayer, and God calls all but a lie. " Neverthe- 
less, they did flatter him with their mouths, and 
they lied to him with their tongues, for their 
heart was not with him." — " Hearken to my 
prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips," saith 
David. 

7. Affliction and the pressure of outward evils, 
will make a man pray, and pray much. " When 
he slew them, then they sought him, and re- 
turned, and inquired early after God." The 
heathen mariners called every man upon his God 
when in a storm : when they fear drowning, then 
they fall to praying, Jonah i. 5. Mariners are 
for the most part none of the devoutest, nor 
much addicted to prayer. They will swear twice, 
where they pray once ; and yet it is said, " They 
cry to the Lord in their trouble:" and hence you 
have a proverb, " He that cannot pray let him 
go to sea." — " They poured out a prayer when 
thy chastening was upon them." 



104 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

"Now then, if nature may put a man upon 
prayer ; if a man may pray in pretence, and de- 
sign ; if a man may pray, and yet love sin ; if a 
man may pray mostly for temporal things ; if a 
man may pray, and yet be far from God in prayer ; 
if prayer may be a lie, or it may be only the cry 
of the soul under affliction, — sure then a man 
may be much in prayer, and yet be but almost a 
Christian. 

Objection. But suppose a man pray, and pre- 
vail with God in prayer, surely that is a witness 
from heaven of a man's sincerity in prayer : now, 
I pray, and prevail ; I ask, and am answered. 

Answer. A man may pray, and be answered ; 
for God many times answers prayers in judgment. 
As God is sometimes silent in mercy, so he speaks 
in wrath ; and as he sometimes denies prayer in 
mercy, so he sometimes answers in judgment : 
when men are over-importunate in something 
their lusts are upon, and will take no nay, then 
God answers in judgment. " He gave them 
their own desire." They had desired quails, and 
God sent them : but now mark the judgment — 
" While the meat was in their mouths, the wrath 
of God came upon them, and slew them." 

Objection. But suppose a man's affections are 
much stirred in prayer — how then ? Is not that 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 105 

a true note of Christianity ? Now my affections 
are much stirred in prayer. 

Answer. So was Esau's, when he sought the 
blessing. "He sought it carefully with tears." 
A man may be affected with his own parts in a 
duty, while good notions pass through his head, 
and good words through his lips : some good mo- 
tions also may stir in his heart, but they are but 
sparks which fly out at the tunnel of the chimney, 
which suddenly vanish ; so that it is possible a 
man may pray, and prevail in prayer ; pray, and 
be affected in prayer — and yet be but almost a 
Christian. 

XIII. A man may suffer for Christ in his goods, 
in his name, in his person ; and yet be but almost 
a Christian. 

Every man that bears Christ's cross on his 
shoulders, doth not, therefore, bear Christ's image 
in his soul. 

Objection. But doth not our Lord Christ make 
great promises to them that suffer, or lose any- 
thing for him ? Doth he not say, " Every one 
that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, 
or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, 
for my name's sake, shall receive an hundred fold, 
and shall inherit everlasting life ?" Sure they are 
true Christians to whom Christ makes this promise ! 



106 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

Answer. There is a suffering for Christ, that 
is a note of sincerity, and shall have its reward. 
That is, when a man suffers for a good cause, 
upon a good call, and with a good conscience, for 
Christ's sake, and in Christ's strength ; when his 
sufferings are a filling up " that which is behind 
of the sufferings of Christ ;" when a man suffers 
as a Christian, as the apostle hath it, " If a man 
suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed 5" 
when a man thrusts not himself into sufferings, 
but stays God's call, such suffering is a proof of 
integrity. 

But now, every suffering for Christ is not suffer- 
ing as a Christian : for, 

1. A man may suffer for Christ, for that pro- 
fession of religion that is upon him ; the world 
hates the show of religion. Times may come, 
that it may cost a man as dear to wear the livery 
of Christ, as to wear Christ himself. Alexander 
had like to have lost his life for the gospel's sake, 
yet he was that Alexander, as is generally judged, 
that afterwards made shipwreck of faith, and 
greatly opposed Paul's ministry. 

2. A man may suffer for Christ, and yet have 
no true love to Christ. This is supposed : 
"Though I give my body to be burned, and 
have not charity, it profits nothing." 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 107 



Love to Christ is the only noble ground of suf- 
fering ; but a man may suffer much upon other 
ends. 

1. Out of opinion of meriting by our sufferings, 
as the Papists ; or, 

2. Out of vain glory, or for applause among 
professors : some have died, that their names 
might live ; or, 

3. Out of a Roman resolution, or stoutness of 
spirit. 

4. Out of a design of profit, as Judas forsook 
all for Christ, hoping to mend his market by clos- 
ing with him ; or, 

5. Rather to maintain an opinion, than for 
truth's propagation. Socrates died for maintain- 
ing that there was but one God ; but whether he 
died rather for his own opinion, than for God's 
sake, I think it is no hard matter to determine. 
Thus, a man may suffer for professing Christ, and 
yet suffer upon wrong principles. 

Now then, if a man may suffer for Christ, from 
the profession that is upon him, or suffer for Christ, 
and yet not truly love him ; then a man may suffer 
for Christ, and yet be but almost a Christian. 

XIV. A man may be called of God, and em- 
brace this call, and yet be but almost a Christian. 

Judas is a famous instance of this truth : he 
11 



108 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

was called by Christ himself, and came at the 
call of Christ ; and yet Judas was but almost a 
Christian. 

Objection. But is not the being under the call 
of God, a proof of our interest in the predestina- 
ting love of God? Doth not the apostle say, 
"Whom he predestinated, them he called?" 
Nay, doth he not say, in the next verse, " Whom 
he called, them he justified?" Nay, doth not 
God call all whom he intends to save ? 

Answer. Though God calleth all those that 
shall be saved, yet all shall not be saved whom 
God calleth. Every man under the gospel is 
called of God in one sense or other, but yet every 
man under the gospel shall not therefore be 
saved : "For many are called, but few chosen." 

There is a twofold call of God — internal, and 
external. 

1. There is an internal call of God. Now, this 
call is a special work of the Spirit, by the ministry 
of the word, whereby a man is brought out of a 
state of nature, into a state of grace ; " out of 
darkness into light, from being vessels of wrath, 
to be made heirs of life." I grant, that whoever 
is under this call of God, is called effectually and 
savingly, to be a Christian indeed. " Every man 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 109 

that hath heard and learned of the Father, comes 
to me." 

2. There is a call of God which a man may 
have, and yet not be this call : there is an external 
call of God, which is by the ministry of the word. 

Now every man that lives under the preaching 
of the gospel, is thus called. God calls every 
soul of you to repent, and lay a sure foundation 
for heaven and salvation, by the word you hear 
this day. 

But now every man that is thus called, is not 
therefore a Christian : for, 

1. Many under the call of God, come to Christ, 
but are not converted to Christ, have nothing of 
the grace and life of Christ ; such as he, who, 
when Christ sent out his servants to bid guests 
unto the marriage, came in at the call of Christ, 
but yet " had not on the wedding garment ;" that 
is, had none of the grace and righteousness of 
Jesus Christ. 

2. Many that are under the call of the gospel, 
come to Christ, and yet afterwards fall away from 
Christ; as Judas and Demas did. It is said, 
when Christ preached a doctrine that his disciples 
did not like, that "from that time many of his 
disciples went back, and walked no more with 
him.' , 



110 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

Now then, if many are only under this external 
call of God ; if many that come to Christ are not 
converted to Christ, but fall away from Christ ; 
then a man maybe called of God, and yet be but 
almost a Christian. 

XV. A man may have the spirit of God, and 
yet be but almost a Christian. 

Balaam had the Spirit of God given him when 
he blessed Israel : " Balaam saw Israel abiding in 
tents, and the Spirit of the Lord came upon him." 
Judas had ; for by the Spirit he cast out devils ; 
he was one of them that came to Christ, and said, 
"Lord, even the devils are subject to us." Saul 
had — " Behold, a company of prophets met him ; 
and the Spirit of God came upon him, and he 
prophesied among them." 

Objection. But you will say, " Can a man have 
the Spirit of God, and yet not be a Christian ?" 
Indeed, the Scripture saith, " If any man have 
not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his ;" but 
surely if any man have the Spirit of Christ, he is 
his! 

Answer. There is a having the Spirit, which 
is a sure mark of saintship. Where the Spirit is 
an effectual prevailing principle of grace and sanc- 
tification, renewing and regenerating the heart : 
where the Spirit is a potent worker, " helping the 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. Ill 



soul's infirmities : where the Spirit is so as to 
" abide forever." But now every man that hath 
the Spirit, hath not the Spirit in this manner : for, 

1. A man may have the Spirit only transiently, 
not abidingly. The Spirit may be in a man, and 
yet not dwell in a man : the Spirit is wherever 
he dwells, but he does not dwell wherever he is ; 
he is in all, but dwells in saints only. The hypo- 
crite may have the Spirit for a season, but not to 
abide in him forever. 

2 . A man may have the Spirit, and yet not be 
born of the Spirit. Every true Christian is born 
of the Spirit. A hypocrite may have the gifts of 
the Spirit, but not the graces : the Spirit may be 
in him by the way of illumination, but not by 
way of sanctification ; by way of conviction, but 
not by w T ay of conversion. Though he may have 
much common grace for the good of others, yet 
he may have no special grace for the good of 
himself; though his profession be spiritual, yet 
his state and condition may be carnal. 

3. A man may have the Spirit only as a Spirit 
of bondage. Thus, many have the Spirit work- 
ing only to bondage. " The Spirit of bondage is 
an operation of the Holy Ghost by the law, con- 
vincing the conscience of sin, and of the curse of 

the law, and working in the soul such an appre- 
11* 



112 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

hension of the wrath of God, as makes the 
thoughts of God a terror to him." 

This Spirit may be, and often is, without saving 
grace: this operation of the Spirit was in Cain 
and Judas. There are none that receive the 
Spirit of adoption, but they first receive the 
Spirit of bondage : yet many receive the Spirit 
of bondage, that never receive the Spirit of adop- 
tion. 

4. A man may have the Spirit of God working 
in him, and yet it may be resisted by him. It is 
said of the Jews, " They rebelled, and vexed his 
Holy Spirit :" and the same sin is charged upon 
their children : " Ye stiff-necked, and uncircum- 
cised in heart, ye have always resisted the Holy 
Ghost ; as your fathers did, so do ye." The 
hypocrite retains not the Spirit so long as to come 
up to regeneration and adoption, but quenches 
the motion of it, and thereby miscarries eternally. 

5. A man may have the Spirit, and yet sin 
that unpardonable sin : he may have the Holy 
Ghost, and yet sin the sin against the Holy 
Ghost ; — nay, no man can sin this sin against it, 
but he that hath some degree of it. 

The true believer hath so much of the Spirit, 
such a work of it in him, that he cannot sin that 
sin : "He that is born of God, sins not :" to wit, 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 113 

that " sin unto death," for that is meant. The 
carnal professing sinner, he cannot sin that sin, 
because he is carnal and sensual, having not the 
Spirit. A man must have some measure of the 
Spirit that sins this sin : so hath the hypocrite : 
he is said to be " partaker of the Holy Ghost," 
and he only is capable of sinning the sin against 
the Holy Ghost. 

Now then, if a man may have the Spirit tran- 
siently only, not abidingly ; if a man may have 
the Spirit, and yet not be born of the Spirit ; if 
he may have the Spirit only as a Spirit of bond- 
age ; if a man may have the Spirit working in 
him, and yet it may be resisted by him ; if a man 
may have the Spirit and yet sin that unpardon- 
able sin against it ; then surely a man may have 
the Spirit of God, and yet be but almost a Chris- 
tian. 

XVI. A man may have faith, and yet be but 
almost a Christian. 

The stony ground, that is, those hearers set 
out by the stony ground, "for a while believed." 
It is said, that many believed in the name of 
Christ, yet Christ durst not " commit himself to 
them." Though they trusted in Christ, yet 
Christ would not trust them ; and why ? " be- 
cause he knew all men." He knew they were 



114 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

rotten at root, notwithstanding their faith. A 
man may have all faith, to the removing of moun- 
tains, and yet be nothing. 

Objection. But how can this be, that a man 
may have faith, and yet be but almost a Christian ? 
Doth not our Lord Christ promise life eternal and 
salvation to all that believe ? Is not this the 
Gospel that is to be preached to every creature, 
" He' that believes shall be saved ?" 

Answer. Though it is true what our Lord Christ 
saith, that " he that believes shall be saved," yet 
it is as true, that many believe that shall never 
be saved ; for Simon Magus believed ; yea, James 
saith, "The devils believe and tremble :" now 
none will say these shall be saved. As it is true, 
what the apostle saith, " All men have not faith," 
so it is as true, that there are some men have 
faith, who are no whit the better for their faith. 

You must know therefore there is a two-fold 
faith, 

1. Special and saving. 

2. Common and not saving. 
1. There is a saving faith. 

This is called " faith of the operation of God." 
It is a work of God's own Spirit in the soul. It 
is such a faith as rests and casts the soul wholly 
upon Christ for grace and glory, pardon and 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 115 

peace, sanctification and salvation. It is a united 
act of the whole soul, understanding, will and af- 
fections, all concurring to unite the soul to an all- 
sufficient Redeemer. It is such a faith as " puri- 
fies the heart," and makes it clean ; it influences 
and gives strength and life to all other graces. 
Now, whoever hath this faith, is a Christian in- 
deed; this is the "faith of God's elect." But 
then, 

2. There is a common faith, not saving, a 
fading and temporary faith ; there is the faith of 
Simon Magus, as well as the faith of Simon Pe- 
ter : Simon Magus believed, and yet he was in 
the " gall of bitterness, and in the bond of in- 
iquity." Now Simon Magus had more followers 
than Simon Peter : the faith of most men will at 
last be found to be no better than the faith of 
Simon Magus : for, 

First, The faith of most is but a temporary 
faith, endures for a while, and then dies and per- 
isheth ; true and saving faith, such as is the faith 
of God's elect, cannot die : it may fail in the act, 
but not in the habit ; the sap may not be in the 
branch, but it is always in the root. 

That faith that perisheth, that faith a man may 
have and perish. 

Secondly, there is a faith that lies only in gen- 



116 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

erals, not in particulars : as there is a general 
and particular object of faith, so there is a gene- 
ral and particular faith. The general object of 
faith is the whole Scripture ; the particular object 
of faith is Christ in the promise. Now many 
have a general faith to believe all the Scripture, 
and yet have no faith to make particular applica- 
tion of Jesus Christ in the promise. Devils and 
reprobates may believe the truth of the Scripture, 
and what is written of the dying and suffering of 
Christ for sinners ; but there are but few that can 
close up themselves in the wounds of Christ, and 
by his stripes fetch in healing to their own souls. 

Thirdly, There is a faith that is seated in the 
understanding, but not in the will ; this is a very 
common faith : many assent to the truth. They 
believe all the attributes of God, that he is just, 
holy, wise, faithful, good, merciful, &c. But yet 
they rest not on him notwithstanding. They be- 
lieve the commands are true, but yet do not 
obey them : they believe the promises are true, 
but yet do not embrace and apply them : they 
believe the threatenings are true, but yet do not 
flee from them. 

Thus their faith lies in assent, but not consent ; 
they have faith to confess a judgment, but none 
to take out execution : by assent thev lay a foun- 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 117 

dation, but never build upon it by application. 
They believe that Christ died to save them that 
believe, and yet they believe not in Christ, that 
they may be saved. 

O my brethren, it is not a believing head, but 
a believing heart that makes a Christian; " with 
the heart man believes to righteousness :" with- 
out this our " faith is vain, we are yet in our 
sins." 

Fourthly, There is a faith without experience ; 
many believe the word upon hearsay, to be the 
word of God ; but they never felt the power and 
virtue of it upon their hearts and consciences. 
Now what good is it to believe the truth of the 
word, if a man's conscience never felt the power 
of the word ? what is it to believe the truth of 
the promise, if we never tasted the sweetness of 
the promise ? We are in this case like a man 
that believes the description others make of 
strange countries, but never travelled them to 
know the truth : or as a patient that believes all 
the physician says, but yet tries none of his po- 
tions. We believe the word, because we cannot 
gainsay it ; but yet we have no experience of any 
saving good wrought by the word, and so are but 
almost Christians. 

Fifthly, There is a faith that is without broken- 



118 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

ness of heart, that does not avail to melt or soften 
the heart, and therefore is not true faith ; for the 
least true faith is ever joined with a bending will, 
and broken heart. 

Sixthly, There is a faith that transforms not 
the heart ; faith without fruit, that doth not bring 
forth the new creature in the soul, but leaves it 
in a state of sin and death. This is a faith that 
makes a man a sound professor, but not a sound 
believer ; he believes the truth, but not as it is in 
Jesus ; for then it would change and transform 
him into the likeness of Jesus. He believes that 
a man must be changed that would be saved, but 
yet is not savingly changed by believing. Thus, 
while others believe to salvation, he believes to 
damnation : for " his web shall not become a gar- 
ment ; neither shall he cover himself with his 
work." 

Now then, if a man's faith may be but tempo- 
rary, or may lie only in generals, or may be seated 
in the understanding only, or may be without 
experience, or may be without a broken heart, or 
without a new heart ; surely then a man may have 
faith, he may taste of this "heavenly gift," and 
yet be but almost a Christian. 

XVII. A man may go further yet : he may 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 119 

possibly have a love to the people of God, and 
yet be but almost a Christian. 

Every kind of love to those who are saints, is 
not a proof of our saintship. Pharaoh loved 
Joseph, and advanced him to the second place in 
the kingdom, and yet Pharaoh was but a wicked 
man : Ahab loved Jehoshaphat and made a league 
with him, and married his daughter Athaliah to 
Jehoram, Jehoshaphat's son, and yet Ahab was a 
wicked wretch. 

But you will say this seems to contradict the 
testimony of the Scriptures ; for that makes love 
to the saints and people of God, a sure proof of 
our regeneration, and interest in life eternal : 
" We know that we have passed from death to 
life, because we love the brethren.' ' Nay, the 
Spirit of God putteth this as a characteristical 
distinction between saints and sinners : " In this 
the children of God are manifest, and the children 
of the devil : whosoever doth not righteousness, 
is not of God, neither he that loveth not his 
brother.' ' By brethren we do not understand 
brethren by place, those who are of the same 
country or nation, such as are called brethren in 
Rom. ix. 3, Acts vii. 23, 25. Nor do we under- 
stand brethren by race, those who are descended 

of the same parents ; such are called brethren in 

12 



120 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

James i. 2. But by brethren we understand 
brethren by grace, and supernatural regeneration, 
such as are the children of God ; and these are 
the brethren whom to love is a sure sign that we 
are the children of God. 

Answer. To this I answer, that there is a love 
to the children of God, which is a proof of our 
being the children of God. As for instance, when 
we love them as such, for that very reason, as 
being the saints of God, when we love them for 
the image of God, which appeareth in them, be- 
cause of that grace and holiness which shineth 
forth in their conversations ; this is truly com- 
mendable, to love the godly for godliness sake, 
the saints for saintship sake, this is a sure testi- 
mony of our Christianity. The love of grace in 
another, is a good proof of the life of grace in 
ourselves. There can be no better evidence of 
the Spirit of Christ in us, than to love the image 
of Christ in others. For this is a certain truth, 
that a sinner cannot love a saint as such ; " an Is- 
raelite is an abomination to an Egyptian.' ' 

There is a contrariety and natural enmity be- 
tween the two seeds; between the children of 
the world, and those whom the Father in his 
eternal love hath " chosen out of the world." 

It is likeness which is the great ground of love ; 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 121 

now there is the highest dissimilitude and unlike- 
ness between an unregenerate sinner, and a child 
of God, and therefore a child of God cannot love 
a sinner as a sinner : " In whose eyes a vile per- 
son is contemned." He may love him as a 
creature ; he may love his soul, or he may love 
him under some relation that he stands in to him. 
Thus God loves the damned spirits, as they are 
his creatures, but as fallen angels he hateth them 
with an infinite hatred. So to love a sinner, 
as a sinner, this a child of God cannot do ; so 
neither can a sinner love a child of God as a 
child of God. That he may love a child of God, 
that I grant, but it is upon some other consider- 
ation ; he may love a person that is holy, not the 
person for his holiness, but for some other re- 
spect. As, 

1. A man may love a child of God for his 
loving, peaceable, courteous deportment to all 
with whom he converseth. Religion beautifies 
the conversation of a man, and sets him off to the 
eye of the world. The grace of God is no friend 
to morose, churlish, unmannerly behavior among 
men ; it promotes an affable demeanor and sweet- 
ness to all ; and where this is found, it winneth 
respect and love from all. 

2. A man may love a saint for his outward 



122 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

greatness and splendor in the world ; men are 
very apt to honor worldly greatness, and there- 
fore the rich saint shall be loved and honored, 
whilst the poor saint is hated and despised. 
This is as if a man should value the goodness of 
his sword by the embroidery of his belt ; or his 
horse for the beauty of his trappings, rather than 
for his strength and swiftness. 

True love to the children of God, reaches to 
all the children of God, poor as well as rich, 
bond as well as free, ignoble as well as noble, 
for the image of Christ is alike amiable and 
lovely in all. 

3. A man may love a child of God for his 
fidelity and usefulness in his place : where re- 
ligion in the power of it taketh hold of a man's 
heart, it makes him true to all his trusts, diligent 
in his business, faithful in all his relations ; and 
this obligeth respect. A carnal master may prize 
a godly apprentice or servant that makes con- 
science of pleasing his master, and is diligent in 
promoting his interest. 

I might instance in many things of the like 
nature, as charity, beauty, wit, learning, parts, 
&c, which may procure love to the people of 
God from the men of the world. But this love 
is no proof of charity : For, 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 123 

First, It is but a natural love arising from some 
carnal respect, or self-ends : that love which is 
made by the Scripture an evidence of our regen- 
eration, is a spiritual love, the principal loadstone 
and attraction whereof is grace and holiness ; it 
is a love which embraceth a " righteous man in 
the name of a righteous man." 

2. A carnal man's love to saints, is a limited 
and bounded love ; it is not universal " to the 
seed." JSTow as in sin, he that doth not make 
conscience of every sin, maketh conscience of no 
sin as sin ; so he who doth not love all in whom 
the image of Christ is found, loveth none for that 
of the image of Christ which is found in them. 

Now then, if the love we bear to the people 
of God may possibly arise from natural love only, 
or from some carnal respect ; or if it be a lim- 
ited love, not extended to all the people of God, 
then it is possible that a man may love the 
people of God, and yet be no better than almost 
a Christian. 

XVIII. A man may obey the commands of 
God, yea, many of the commands of God, and 
yet be but almost a Christian. 

Balaam seems very conscientious of steering 

his course by the compass of God's command. 

When Balak sent to him to come and curse the 
11* 



124 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

people of God, saith Balaam, "If Balak would 
give me his house full of silver and gold, I can- 
not go beyond the word of the Lord my God :" 
and so saith he, "The word that God putteth 
in my mouth, that shall I speak." The young 
man went far in obedience, "All these have I 
observed from my youth up ;" and yet he was 
but a hypocrite, for he forsook Christ after all. 

Objection. But is it not said, " He that hath 
my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is 
that loveth me ; and he that loveth me shall be 
loved of my Father ; and I will love him, and 
manifest myself unto him ?" And doth not our 
Lord Christ tell us expressly, " Ye are my friends, 
if ye do whatever I command you ?" And can 
a man be a friend of Christ and be but almost a 
Christian ? 

I answer — There is an obedience to the com- 
mands of Christ, which is a sure proof of our 
Christianity and friendship to Christ. 

This obedience hath a threefold property. 

It is, 1. Evangelical. 2. Universal. 3. Con- 
tinual. 

First, It is evangelical obedience, and that both 
in matter and manner, ground and end. 

In the matter of it ; and that is what God re- 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 125 

quires : " Ye are my friends, if ye do whatever I 
command you." 

In the manner of it ; and that is according as 
God requires : " God is a Spirit, and they that 
worship him, must worship him in spirit and in 
truth." 

In the ground of it ; and that is, " a pure 
heart, a good conscience, and a faith unfeigned.' ' 

In the end of it ; and that is, the honor and 
glory of God : " Whatever ye do, do all to the 
glory of God." 

Secondly, It is a universal obedience, which 
extendeth itself to all the commands of God alike : 
it respects the duties of both tables. Such was 
the obedience of Caleb, " who followed the Lord 
fully ;" and of David, who had " respect to all 
his commands." 

Thirdly, It is a continual obedience, a putting 
the hand to God's plough, without looking back : 
" I have inclined my heart to perform thy stat- 
utes always, even to the end." 

He that thus obeys the command of God, is a 
Christian indeed ; a friend of Christ indeed. But 
all obedience to the commands of God, is not this 
obedience ; For, 

1. There is a partial obedience — a piece-meal 
religion, when a man obeys God in one command, 



126 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

and not in another ; owns him in one duty, and 
not in another ; when a man seems to make con- 
science of the duties of one table, and not of the 
duties of another. This is the religion of most. 

Now this obedience is no obedience ; for as he 
that doth not love God above all, doth not love 
God at all ; so he that doth not obey all the 
commands universally, cannot be said to obey 
any command truly. It is said of those in Sama- 
ria that they " feared the Lord, and served their 
own gods after their own manner." And yet in 
the very next verse it is said, " They feared not 
the Lord ;" so that their fear of the Lord was no 
fear. In like manner, that obedience to God is 
no obedience, which is but a partial and piece- 
meal obedience. 

2. A man may obey much, and yet be in his 
old nature ; and if so, then all his obedience in 
that estate is but a painted sin : "He that offer- 
eth an oblation, is as if he offered swine's blood ; 
and he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an 
idol." The nature must be renewed, before the 
command can be rightly obeyed ; for " a cor- 
rupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit." What- 
ever a man's performances are, they cannot be 
called obedience, whilst the heart remaineth un- 
regenerate, because the principle is false and un- 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 127 

sound. Every duty done by a believer, is ac- 
cepted of God, as part of his obedience to the 
will of God, though it be done in much weak- 
ness ; because, though the believer's hand is 
weak, yet "his heart is right." The hypocrite 
may have the most active hand, but the believer 
hath the most faithful and sincere heart. 

3. A man may obey the law, and yet have no 
love to the Lawgiver. A carnal heart may do 
the command of God, but he cannot love God, 
and therefore cannot do it aright; for love to 
God is the foundation and spring of all true 
obedience. Every command of God is to be 
done in love : this is the "fulfilling of the law." 
The apostle saith, " Though I bestow all my 
goods to feed the poor, and though I give my 
body to be burned, (these seem to be acts of the 
highest obedience), yet if I have not love, it pro- 
fits me nothing." 

4. I might add, that a man may be much in 
obedience from sinister and base selfish ends : as 
the Pharisees prayed much, gave much alms, 
fasted much : but our Lord Christ tells us, that 
it was "that they might be seen of men, and 
have glory of men." Most of the hypocrite's 
piety empties itself into vain-glory ; and there- 
fore he is but an empty vine in all he does, be- 



128 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

cause " he bringeth forth fruit to himself." It is 
the end that justifies the action : indeed, a good 
end cannot make a bad action good, but yet the 
want of a good end makes a good action bad. 

Now then, if a man may obey the commands 
of God partially, and by halves; if he may do it, 
and yet be in his natural state ; if he may obey 
the commands of God, and yet not love God ; if 
the ends of his obedience may be sinful and un- 
warrantable, — then a man may be much in obey- 
ing the commands of God, and yet be but al- 
most a Christian. 

XIX. A man may be sanctified, and yet be but 
almost a Christian. 

Every kind of sanctification doth not make a 
man a new creature ; for many are sanctified that 
are never renewed. You read of them that 
" count the blood of the covenant, wherewith 
they were sanctified, an unholy thing. " 

Objection. But doth not the Scripture tell us, 
that " both he who sanctifieth, and they who are 
sanctified, are all one : for which cause, he is not 
ashamed to call them brethren." And can a man 
be one with Christ, and yet be but almost a Chris- 
tian ? 

Answer. To this I answer — You must know 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 129 

there is a twofold work of sanctification spoken 
of in Scripture. 

The one, common and ineffectual. 

The other, special and effectual. 

That work of sanctification which is true and 
effectual, is the working of the Spirit of God in 
the soul, enabling it to the mortifying of all sin, to 
the obeying of every command, to " walking with 
God in all well-pleasing. " Now, whoever is 
thus sanctified, is one with him that sanctifieth. 
Christ will not be ashamed to call such brethren ; 
for they are " flesh of his flesh, and bone of his 
bone." 

But then there is a more common work of 
sanctification which is ineffectual as to the two 
great works of dying to sin, and living to God. 
This kind of sanctification may help to restrain 
sin, but not to mortify sm ; it may lop off the 
boughs, but it layeth not the axe to the root of 
the tree ; it sweeps and garnishes the room with 
common virtues, but doth not adorn it with sav- 
ing graces ; so that a man is but almost a Chris- 
tian, notwithstanding this sanctification. 

Or thus, there is an inward and outward sanc- 
tification. 

Inward sanctification is that which deals with 
the soul and its faculties, understanding, con- 



130 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

science, will, memory, and affections. Outward 
sanctification is that which deals with the life and 
conversation. Both these must concur to make a 
man a Christian indeed: therefore the apostle 
puts them together in his prayer for the Thessa- 
lonians : " The God of peace sanctify you wholly ; 
and, I pray God, your whole spirit, and soul, and 
body, be preserved blameless unto the coming 
of our Lord Jesus Chris t." A man is then sanc- 
tified wholly when he is sanctified both inwardly 
and outwardly — both in heart and affections, and 
in life and conversation. Outward sanctification 
is not enough without inward, nor inward without 
outward : we must have both " clean hands, and 
a pure heart." The heart must be pure, that we 
may not incur blame from within ; and the hands 
must be clean, that we may not incur shame from 
without. We must have hearts " sprinkled from 
an evil conscience, and bodies washed with pure 
water." " We must cleanse ourselves from all 
filthiness of flesh and spirit." Inward purity 
is the most excellent, but, without the outward, 
it is not sufficient ; the true Christian is made up 
of both. 

Now many have clean hands, but unclean 
hearts. They wash the outside of the cup and 
platter, when all is filthy within. Now, the for- 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 131 

mer without the latter, profit eth a man no more 
than it profited Pilate, who condemned Christ, to 
wash his hands in the presence of the people : 
he washed his hands of the blood of Christ, and 
yet had a hand in the death of Christ. The 
Egyptian temples were beautiful on the outside, 
but within you shall find nothing but some ser- 
pent or crocodile. " He is not a Jew which is 
one outwardly." Judas was a saint without, but 
a sinner within ; openly a disciple, but secretly, a 
devil. 

Some pretend to inward sanctity without out- 
ward. This is the pretence of the open sinner : 
"Though I sometimes drop an idle, foolish word," 
saith he, " or though I sometimes swear an oath, 
yet I think no hurt : — I thank God my heart is 
as good as the best !" Such are like the sinner 
Moses mentions, that " blessed himself in his 
heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk 
in the imagination of mine own heart, to add drunk- 
enness to thirst." 

Some pretend to outward sanctity without in- 
ward. Such are like the Scribes and Pharisees, 
" who outwardly appear righteous unto men, but 
within are full of hypocrisy and iniquity ;" fair 
professors, but foul sinners. 

Inward sanctity without outward, is impossible ; 
13 



132 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

for it will not reform the life. Outward sanctity 
without inward, is unprofitable ; for it will not 
reform the heart : a man is not a true Christian 
without both. The body doth not make a man 
without the soul, nor the soul without the body ; 
both are essential to the being of man : so the 
sanctification of both, are essential to the being 
of the new man. True sanctification begins at 
the heart, but works out into the life and conver- 
sation ; and if so, then man may attain to an out- 
ward sanctification, and yet, for want of an inward, 
be no better than almost a Christian. 

And so I shall end this long pursuit of the 
almost Christian, in his progress heavenward, with 
this one general conclusion : — 

XX. A man may do all, as to external duties 
and worship, that a true Christian can ; and, when 
he hath done all, be bat almost a Christian. 

You must know, all the commands of God have 
an intra and an extra : there is, as I may say, the 
body and the soul of the command, And accord- 
ingly, there is an internal and an external worship 
of God. 

Now the internal acts of worshipping of God, 
are to love God, to fear God, to delight in God, 
to trust in God, &c. 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 133 

The external acts of worshipping of God, are 
by praying, teaching, hearing, &c. 

Now there is a vast difference between these 
internal and external acts of worship ; and such 
a difference there is, that they distinguish the 
altogether from the almost Christian ; the sincere 
believer from the unsound professor : and, indeed, 
in this very thing the main difference between 
them doth lie. 

1. Internal acts of worship are good propter 
fieri ; the goodness doth adhere intrinsically to 
the thing done. A man cannot love God, nor 
fear God, but it will be imputed to him for a 
gracious act, and a great part of his holiness. But 
now, external acts of worship are not denomi- 
nated good, so much from the matter done, 
propter fieri, as from the manner of doing them. 
A man cannot sin in loving and delighting in God, 
but he may sin in praying and hearing, <fcc, for 
want of a due manner. 

2. Internal acts of worship put a goodness into 
external : it is our faith, our love, our fear of God, 
that makes our duties good. 

3. They better the heart, and greater the de- 
grees of a man's holiness. External duties do not 
always do this. A man may pray, and yet his 
heart never the holier ; he may hear the word, 



i 



134 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 



and yet his heart never the softer : but now, the 
more a man fears God, the wiser he is : the more 
a man loves God, the holier he is. Love is the 
perfection of holiness : we shall never be perfect 
in holiness, until we come to be perfect in love. 

4. There is such an excellency in this internal 
worship, that he who mixes it with his external 
duties, is a true Christian when he doth least : 
but without this mixture, he is hut almost a 
Christian that doth most. 

Internal acts of worship, joined with outward, 
sanctify them, and make them accepted of God, 
though few: external acts of worship, without 
inward, make them abhorred of God, though 
they be never so many. So that, although the 
almost Christian may do all those duties in hy- 
pocrisy, which a true Christian doth in sincerity ; 
nay, though in doing external duties, he may 
out-do the true Christian, as the comet makes a 
greater blaze than the true star : if Elijah fast 
and mourn, Baal's priests will cut their flesh; 
yet he cannot do those internal duties, that the 
meanest true Christian can. 

The almost Christian can pray, -but he cannot 
love God; he can teach or hear, &c, but he 
cannot take delight in God. Mark Job's query 
concerning the hypocrite : " Will he delight him- 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 135 

self in the Almighty ?" He will pray to the 
Almighty, but will he delight himself in the Al- 
mighty ? Will he take pleasure in God ? Ah, 
no ! he will not — he cannot ! Delight in God 
ariseth from a suitableness between the faculty, 
and the object ; now, none more unsuitable, than 
God and a carnal heart. Delight arises from 
the having what we desire, and from enjoying 
what we have. How then can he delight in God, 
that neither enjoy eth, nor hath, nor truly desir- 
eth God ? Delight in God is one of the highest 
exercises of grace : and therefore, how can he 
delight in God, that hath no grace ? 

Why, then, should any saint of God be dis- 
couraged, when he hears how far the almost 
Christian may go in the way to heaven : whereas, 
he that is the weakest true believer, that hath 
the least true grace, goes farther than he ; for 
he believes in, and loves God. 

Should the almost Christian do less, as to 
matter of external duties, yet, if he had but the 
least true faith, the least sincerity of love to 
Christ, he would surely be saved ; and should 
the true Christian do ten times more duties than 
he doth, yet, had he not faith in Christ, and love 
to Christ, he would surely be rejected. 

0, therefore, let not any weak believer be dis- 
13* 



136 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

couraged, though hypocrites may out-do them, 
and go beyond them in duty ; for all their duties 
are done in hypocrisy, but your faith and love to 
God in duties, is a proof of your sincerity. 

1. I do not speak this to discourage any soul 
in the doing of duties, or to beat down outward 
performances, but to rectify the soul in the doing 
of them. As the apostle saith, " Covet earnestly 
the best gifts : but yet I show you a more excel- 
lent way." So I say, covet the best gifts ; covet 
much to be in duties, much in prayer, much in 
hearing, &c. " But I will show you a more 
excellent way ;" and that is, the way of faith and 
love. Pray much, but then believe much too. 
Hear much ; read much ; but then love God 
much too. Delio-ht in the word and ordinances 
of God much, but then delight in the God of or- 
dinances more. 

And when you are most in duties, as to your 
use of them, O then be sure to be above duties, 
as to your resting and dependence upon them. 
Would you be Christians, indeed, — altogether 
Christians ? then, be much in the use and 
exercise of ordinances, but be much more in faith 
and dependence upon Christ and his righteous- 
ness. When your obedience is most to the com- 
mand, then let your faith be most upon the 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 137 

promise. The professor rests in duties, and so 
is but almost a Christian ; but you must be sure 
to rest upon the Lord Christ. This is the way 
to be altogether Christians ; for, if ye believe, 
then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according 
to the promise. And thus I have answered the 
first query ; to wit, how far a man may go in 
the way to heaven, and yet be but almost & 
Christian. 

1. He may have much knowledge. 

2. He may have great gifts. 

3. He may have a high profession. 

4. He may do much against sin. 

5. He may desire grace. 

6. He may tremble at the word. 

7. He may delight in the word. 

8. He may be a member of the church of 
Christ. 

9. He may have great hopes of heaven. 

10. He may be under great and visible changes. 

11. He may be very zealous in the matters 
of religion. 

12. He may be much in prayer. 

13. He may suffer for Christ. 

14. He may be called of God. 

15. He may, in some sense, have the Spirit 
of God. 



138 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

16. He may have some kind of faith. 

17. He may love the people of God. 

18. He may go far in obeying the commands 
of God. 

19. He may be, in some sense, sanctified. 

20. He may do all, as to external duties, that 
a true Christian can, and yet be no better than 
almost a Christian. 



Question II. 

Why, or whence is it, that many men go so 
far, as that they come to be almost Christians ? 

First, It may be to answer the call of con- 
science. Though few men have grace, yet all men 
have conscience. Now do but observe, and you 
shall see how far conscience may go in this work. 

1. Conscience owns a God, and that this God 
must be worshipped and served by the creature. 
Atheists in practice, we have many ; such as the 
apostle speaks of : " They profess to know God, 
but in works they deny him." But atheists in 
judgment none can be. Tully, a heathen, could 
say, " Nulla gens tarn barbara," &c. Now there 
being such a light in conscience, as to discover 
that there is a God, and that he must be wor- 
shipped by the help of farther light — the light of 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 139 

the word, a man may be enabled to do much 
in the ways of God, and yet his heart without a 
dram of grace. 

2. Know this, that natural conscience is capable 
of great improvements from the means of grace. 
Sitting under the ordinances may exceedingly 
heighten the endowments of conscience. It may 
be much regulated, though it be not at all renewed : 
it may be enlightened, convinced, and yet never 
savingly converted and changed. You read in 
Hebrews vi. 4, of some that were " once enlight- 
ened, and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were 
made partakers of the Holy Ghost." What work 
shall we call this ? It could not be a saving 
work, a true change and conversion of state ; for, 
notwithstanding this enlightening, and tasting, and 
partaking, yet they are here said to fall away, 
verse 6. Had it been a true work of grace, they 
could never have fallen away from that. A be- 
liever may fall, but he cannot fall away ; he may 
fall foully, but he cannot fall finally ; for, " un- 
derneath are the everlasting arms." His faith is 
established in the strength of that prayer of 
Christ that our faith fail not. JSTay, he tells us 
expressly, that it is eternal life which he gives, 
from which we shall never perish. 

This work, then, here spoken of, cannot be any 



140 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

saving work, because it is not an abiding work ; 
for they that are under it, are said to fall away 
from it. But though it be not a saving grace, 
yet it is a supernatural work. It is an improve- 
ment made by the word upon the consciences of 
men, through the power of the Spirit ; and there- 
fore they are said to " taste the good word of 
God," and to be made "partakers of the Holy 
Ghost." They have not the Spirit abiding in 
them savingly, but striving with them, and work- 
ing upon them convincingly, to the awakening 
and setting conscience on work. And conscience, 
thus stirred, may carry a man very far in relig- 
ion, and in the duties of the gospel, and yet be 
but a natural conscience. 

A common work of the Spirit, may stead a man 
very much in the duties of religion, though it 
must be a special work of the Spirit that steads a 
man to salvation. A man may have the assisting 
presence of the Spirit, enabling him to preach and 
pray, and yet he may perish for want of the re- 
newing presence of the Spirit, enabling him to 
believe. Judas had the former, and yet perished 
for want of the latter. He had the Spirit assist- 
ing him to cast out devils; but yet he had 
not the Spirit renewing him ; for he was cast out 
himself. Thus a man may have an improved 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 141 

conscience, and yet be a stranger to a renewed 
conscience ; and conscience, thus improved, may 
put a man very much upon duty. I pray God, 
none of us mistake a conscience, thus improved by 
the word, for a conscience renewed by the Spirit. 
The mistake is very easy, especially when a life 
of duties is the fruit of it. 

3. The conscience of a natural man is subject 
to distress and trouble. Though a natural con- 
science is not sanctified with grace, yet it is often 
troubled at sin. Trouble of conscience is not in- 
cident to believers only, but sometimes to unbe- 
lievers also. A believers conscience is sometimes 
troubled, when his sin is truly pardoned : and a 
natural man's conscience is troubled for sin though 
it is never freed from sin. God sometimes sets 
the word home upon the sinners conscience, and 
applies the terrors of the law to it ; and this fills 
the soul with fear and horror of death and hell. 
Now, in this case, the soul usually betakes itself 
to a life of duties, merely to fence trouble out of 
conscience. 

When Absalom sets on fire Joab's cornfields, 
then he runs to him, though he refused before : 
so when God lets a spark of hell, as it were, fall 
upon the sinner's conscience in applying the ter- 
rors of the word, this drives the sinner to a life 



142 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

of duties which he never minded before. The 
ground of many a man's engaging in religion, is 
the trouble of his conscience ; and the end of his 
continuing in religion, is the quieting of conscience. 
If conscience would never check him, God should 
never hear from him. 

Natural conscience hath a voice, and speaks 
aloud many times in the sinner's ears, and telleth 
him, This ought not to be done : God must not 
be forgotten : the commands of God ought not 
to be slighted ; living in sin will be the ruin of 
the soul. And hence it is that a natural man 
runs to duties, and takes up a lifeless and grace- 
less profession, that he may thereby silence con- 
science. As a man sick in his stomach, whatever 
sweet morsel he hath eaten, he brings up all ; 
and although it was sweet in the eating, yet it is 
bitter in the rising ; so it fareth with the sinner, 
when he is sermon-sick, or conscience-sick. 
Though his sin was sweet in the practice, yet the 
thought of it riseth bitter upon the conscience : 
and then his profession of religion is the pill he 
rolleth about in his mouth, to take away the bit- 
terness of sin's taste. 

4. Natural conscience, enlightened by the word, 
may discover to a man much of the misery of a 
natural state ; though not effectually to bring him 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 143 

out of it ; yet so as to make him restless and 
weary in it. It may show a sinner his naked- 
ness ; and hereupon the soul runneth to a life of 
duties ; thinking hereby to stead the misery of 
his case, and to make a covering for his nakedness. 
It is said, " that when Adam and Eve saw they 
were naked, they sewed fig-leaves together, and 
made themselves a covering." So when once 
the sinner seeth his nakedness and vileness by 
reason of sin, whereas he should run to Christ, 
and close with him, and beg his righteousness for 
a covering, " that the shame of his nakedness 
doth not appear ;" he rather runneth to a life of 
duties and performances, and thus maketh him- 
self a covering with the fig-leaves of a profession, 
without Christ truly embraced, and conscience at 
all renewed. Natural man would fain be his own 
Saviour ; and supposeth a change of state to be a 
thing within his own power ; and that the true 
work of grace lieth in leaving off the practice of 
sin, and taking up a life of duties : and, therefore, 
upon this principle, doth many a graceless pro- 
fessor outstrip a sound believer ; for he resteth 
on his own performances, and hopeth these will 
commend him to God. 

Question. If a natural conscience may go thus 
far, then what difference is there between this 

14 



144 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

natural conscience in hypocrites and sinners, and 
a renewed conscience in believers ? or, how may 
I know whether the working of my conscience 
be the working of nature only, or else of grace 
wrought in it ? 

Answer. I grant that it is difficult to distin- 
guish between the one and the other ; and the 
difficulty hath a twofold rise. 

1. It ariseth from that hypocrisy that is in the 
best, saints. The weakest believer is no hypo- 
crite, but yet there is some hypocrisy in the 
strongest believer. Where there is most grace, 
there is some sin ; and where there is most sin- 
cerity, yet there is some hypocrisy. 

Now it is very incident to a tender conscience 
to misgive and mistrust its state, upon the sight 
of any sin. When he sees hypocrisy break out 
in any duty or performance, then he complains, 
" Surely my aims are not sincere ! my conscience 
is not renewed ! it is but natural conscience en- 
lightened, not by grace purged and changed."* 

2. It ariseth from that resemblance there is 
between grace and hypocrisy ; for hypocrisy is a 
resemblance of grace, without substance ; the 

* Pygmalion made an image so life-like that he deceived 
himself; and, taking the picture for a person, he fell in 
love with the picture ! 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 145 

likeness of grace, without the life of grace. 
There is no grace but a hypocrite may have 
somewhat like it ; and there is no duty done by 
a Christian, but a hypocrite may outstrip him in 
it. Now, when one that hath not true grace 
shall go further than one that hath, this may 
well make the believer question whether his grace 
be true or not ; or whether the workings of his 
conscience be not the workings of nature only, 
rather than of grace wrought in it. 

But to answer the question — You may make 
a judgment of this in these seven particulars : — 

1. If a natural man's conscience putteth him 
upon duty, he doth usually bound himself in the 
work of God. His duties are limited ; his obe- 
dience is a limited obedience. He doth one duty, 
and neglecteth another. He picketh and choos- 
eth among the commands of God ; obeyeth one, 
and slighteth another. Thus much is enough ; 
what need any more ? If I do thus and thus, I 
shall go to heaven at last. But now, where con- 
science is renewed by grace, there it is otherwise. 
Though there may be many weaknesses which 
accompany its duties, yet that soul never bounds 
itself in working after God : it never loves God 
so much, but still it would love him more ; nor 
seeks him so much, but still it would seek him 



146 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

more ; nor doth it serve God so well at any time, 
but it still makes conscience of serving him bet- 
ter. A renewed conscience is a spring of uni- 
versal obedience: for it seeth an infinite excel- 
lency, and goodness, and holiness in God ; and 
therefore would fain have its service rise up tow- 
ards some proportionableness to the object. A 
God of infinite excellency and goodness, should 
have infinite love, saith conscience : a holy God 
should have service from a holy heart, saith con- 
science. 

Now then, if I set bounds to my love to God, 
or to my service to God ; if I limit myself in my 
obedience to the holy God ; love one command, 
and slight another ; obey in one point, and yet 
lie cross in another ; then is all I do but the 
workings of a natural conscience. But on the 
other hand, if I love the Lord with my whole 
heart, and whole soul, and serve him with all 
my might and strength ; if " I esteem all God's 
precepts concerning all things to be right, and 
have respect to all his commands,'' then is my 
love and service from a renewed conscience. 

2. If a natural man's conscience check or ac- 
cuse for sin, then he seeketh to stop the mouth 
of it, but not to satisfy it. Most of the natural 
man's duties are to still and stifle conscience. 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 147 

But now, the believer chooseth rather to let con- 
science cry, than to stop the mouth of it, until 
he can do it upon good terms, and till he can 
fetch in satisfaction to it from the blood of Jesus 
Christ, by fresh acts of faith apprehended and 
applied. The natural man seeketh to still the 
noise of conscience, rather than to remove the 
guilt. The believer seeketh the removal of guilt 
by the application of Christ's blood ; and then 
conscience is quiet of itself. As a foolish man, 
having a mote fallen into his eye, and making it 
water, he wipeth away the water, and labors to 
keep it dry, but never searcheth his eye to get 
out the mote ; but a wise man mindeth not so 
much the wiping, as the searching his eye ; 
somewhat is got in, and that causeth the water- 
ing, and therefore the cause must be removed. 
Now then, if when conscience accuseth for sin, I 
take up a life of duties, a form of godliness, to 
stop the mouth of conscience ; and if hereupon 
conscience be still and quiet; then is this but 
a natural conscience : but if, when conscience 
checks, it will not be satisfied with anything but 
the blood of Christ, and therefore I use duties 
to bring me to Christ ; and if I beg the sprink- 
ling of his blood upon conscience, and labor not 



14* 



148 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

so much to stop the mouth of it, as to remove 
guilt from it ; then is this a renewed conscience. 
3. There is no natural man, let him go never 
so far, let him do never so much in the matters 
of religion, but still he has his Delilah, his bosom- 
lust. Judas went far, but he carried his covet- 
ousness along with him. Herod went far ; he 
did many things under the force of John's min- 
istry ; but yet there was one thing he did not ; 
he did not put away his brother's wife — his 
Herodias lay in his bosom still. Nay, commonly, 
all the natural man's duties are to hide some sin ; 
his profession is only made use of for a cover- 
shame. But now the renewed conscience hateth 
all sin, as David did : "I hate every false way ;" 
he regardeth no iniquity in his heart : he useth 
duties, not to cover sin, but to help work down, 
and work out sin. Now then, if I profess re- 
ligion ; if I make mention of the name of the 
Lord, and make my " boast of the law, and yet 
through, breaking the law dishonor God :" if I 
live in the love of any sin, and make use of my 
profession to cover it, then am I a hypocrite, and 
my duties flow but from a natural' conscience : 
but, on the other hand, if I " name the name of 
the Lord Jesus, and withal depart from iniquity ;" 
if I use duties, not to cover, but to discover and 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 149 

mortify sin ; then am I upright before God, and 
my duties flow from a renewed conscience. 

4. A natural man prides himself in his duties. 
If he be much in duty, then he is much lifted up 
under duty. So did the Pharisee : " God, I 
thank thee that I am not as other men are ;" and 
why ? where lay the difference ? why, " I fast 
twice in the week : I give tithes of all," &c. 

But now take a gracious heart, a renewed con- 
science, and when his duties are at highest, then 
is his heart at lowest. Thus it was with the 
apostle Paul ; he was much in service, " in season, 
and out of season ;" preaching up the Lord Jesus 
with all boldness and earnestness, and yet very 
humble, in a sense of his own un worthiness, under 
all : "lam not worthy to be called an apostle. 
To me, who am less than the least of all saints, 
is this grace given, that I should preach among 
the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." 
And again, " Of sinners, I am chief." Thus a 
believer, when he is highest in duties, then is he 
lowest in Humility. Duty puffeth up the hypo- 
crite, but a believer comes away humbled ; and 
why ? because the hypocrite hath had no visions 
of God : he hath seen only his own gifts and 
parts, and this exalfceth him : but the believer 
hath seen God, and enjoyed communion with 



150 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

God, and this humbleth him. Communion with 
God, though it be very refreshing, yet it is also 
very abasing and humbling to the creature. 
Hierome observeth on Zeph. i. 1, where it is said, 
that " Cushi was the son of Gedaliah, the son of 
Amariah ;" that " Amariah signifieth, ' the Word 
of the Lord ;' Gedaliah signifieth 'the Greatness 
of the Lord ;' and Cushi is interpreted ' Humil- 
ity/ or, ' my Ethiopian.' " " So that," saith he, 
" from the Word of the Lord cometh a sight of 
greatness of the Lord ; and from a sight of the 
greatness of the Lord, cometh humility." 

Now then, if I pride myself in any duty, and 
am puffed up under my performances ; then have 
I not seen nor met with God in any duty. But 
on the other hand, if when my gifts are at high- 
est, my heart is at lowest ; if when my spirit is 
most raised, my heart is the most humbled ; if, in 
the midst of all my services, I can maintain a sense 
of my own unworthiness ; if Cushi be the son 
of Gedaliah, then have I seen and had commu- 
nion with God in duty, and my performances are 
from a renewed conscience. 

5. Look what that is to which th£ heart doth 
secretly render the glory of a duty, and that is 
the principle of the duty. In Hab. i. 16, we read 
of them that sacrifice to their . net, and burn in- 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 151 

cense to their drag." Where the glory of an ac- 
tion is rendered to a man's self, the principle of 
that action is self. All rivers run into the sea ; 
that is an argument they came from the sea : 
so when all a man's duties terminate in self, then 
is self the principle of all. Now all the natural 
man's duties run into himself. He was never, by 
a thorough work of grace, truly cast out of him- 
self, and brought to deny himself ; and therefore 
he can rise no higher than himself in all he does. 
He was never brought to be poor in spirit, and 
so to live upon another ; to be carried out of all 
duties to Jesus Christ. But the believer giveth 
the glory of all his services to God ; whatever 
strength or life there is in duty, God hath all 
the glory ; for he is by grace outed of himself, 
and therefore seeth no excellence or worthiness 
in self. 

" I labored more abundantly than they all," 
saith the apostle ; but to whom doth he ascribe 
the glory of this? to self? JSTo : " Yet not I," 
saith he, " but the grace of God which was with 
me." Whenever the grace of Christ is wrought 
in the heart' as a principle of duty, you shall find 
the soul when it is most carried out, with a Yet 
not I, in the mouth of it. " I live, yet not I ; I 
labored more abundantly than all, yet not I." 



152 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

Self is disclaimed, and Christ most advanced, 
when it is from grace that the heart is quickened : 
the twenty-four elders cast their crowns at 
Christ's feet. 

There are two things very hard : one is, to take 
the shame of our sins to ourselves ; the other is, 
to give the glory of our services to Christ. Now 
then, if I sacrifice to my own net : if I aim at my 
own credit or profit, and give the glory of all I 
do to self ; then do I " sow to the flesh," and was 
never yet cast out of self, but act only from a nat- 
ural conscience. But if I give the glory of all 
my strength and life in duty only to God ; if I 
magnify grace in all, and can truly say in all I do, 
Yet not I ; then am I truly cast out of self, and 
do what I do with a renewed conscience. 

6. Though a natural conscience may put a man 
much upon service, yet it never presses to the at- 
tainment of holiness. So that he carrieth an un- 
sanctified heart under all. How long was Judas 
a professor, and yet not one dram of grace had 
he. The foolish virgins, you know, " took their 
lamps, but took no oil in their vessels ;" that is, 
they looked more after a profession, than after 
a sanctification. But now, when a renewed 
conscience putteth a man upon duty, it is suc- 
ceeded with the growth of holiness. As grace 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 153 

helpeth to the doing of duty, so duty helpeth to 
the growing of grace ; a believer is the more 
holy and the more heavenly, by his being much 
in duties. 

Now then, if I am much in a life of duties, and 
yet a stranger to a life of holiness ; if I maintain 
a high profession, and yet have not a true work 
of sanctification ; if, like children in the rickets, I 
grow big in the head, but weak in the feet ; then 
have I gifts and parts, but no grace ; and though 
I am much in service, yet have I but a natural 
conscience. But, on the other hand, if the holi- 
ness of my conversation carrieth a proportion to 
my profession ; if I am not " a hearer of the word 
only, but a doer of it ;" if grace groweth in sea- 
sons of duty, then do I act in the things of God 
from a renewed conscience. 

7. And lastly, If a natural conscience be the 
spring of duty, why then this spring runs fastest 
at first, and so abateth, and at last drieth up. 
But if a renewed conscience; a sanctified heart, 
be the spring of duty, then this spring will never 
dry up. It will run always, from first to last, 
and run quicker at last than first : "I know thy 
works, and the last to be more than the first. 
The righteous shall hold on his way ; and he that 
hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger." 



154 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

Question. But you will say, Why doth that 
man abate and languish in his duties, that doth 
them from a natural conscience, more than he 
that doth them from a renewed conscience ? 

Answer. The reason is, because they grow upon 
a fallible root, a decaying root, and that is nature. 
Nature is a fading root, and so are all its fruits 
fading ; but the duties done by a renewed con- 
science, are fruits that grow upon a lasting root ; 
and that is Christ. " Gifts have their root in 
nature, but grace hath its root in Christ :" and 
therefore the weakest grace shall outlive the 
greatest gifts and parts ; because there is life in 
the root of the one, and not in that of the other. 
Gifts and grace differ like the leather of your 
shoe, and the skin of your foot. Make a pair of 
shoes that have the thickest soles, and if you go 
much in them, the leather weareth out, and in a 
little time a man's foot cometh to the ground ; 
but now a man that goeth barefoot all his days, 
the skin of his feet does not wear out. Why 
should not the sole of his foot sooner wear out 
than the sole of his shoe ; for the leather is much 
thicker than the skin ? . The reason is, because 
there is life in the one, and not in the other ; 
there is life in the skin of the foot, and therefore 
that holdeth out, and groweth thicker and thicker, 



THE ALMOST, CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 155 

harder and harder ; but there is no life in the 
sole of his shoe, and therefore that weareth out, 
and waxeth thinner and thinner: so it is with 
gifts and grace. Now then, if I decay and abate, 
and grow weary of a profession, and fall away 
at last ; if I begin in the spirit, and end in the 
flesh ; then was all I did from a natural con- 
science : but if I grow and hold out, if I perse- 
vere to the end, and my " last works be more 
than my first/' then I act from a renewed con- 
science. 

And thus I have, in seven things, answered 
that question, namely, If conscience may go thus 
far in putting a man upon duties, then what dif- 
ference is there between this natural conscience 
in hypocrites and sinners, and renewed conscience 
in believers ? 

And that is the first answer to the main query, 
namely, " Whence is it that many men go so far, 
as that they come to be almost Christians ?" It 
is to answer the call of conscience. 

Secondly, It is from the power of the word 
under which they live. Though the word doth 
not work effectually upon all, yet it hath a great 
power upon the hearts of sinners to reform them, 
though not to renew them. 

1. It hath a discerning, discovering power : 
15 



156 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

" The word of God is quick and powerful, sharper 
than any two-edged sword, piercing to the divid- 
ing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints 
and marrow ; and is a discerner of the thoughts 
and intents of the heart." This is the glass 
wherein every one may see what man he is. As 
the light of the sun discovers the little motes, so 
the light of the word, shining into conscience, 
discovers little sins. 

2. The word hath the power of a law. It gives 
law to the whole soul ; binds conscience. It is, 
therefore, frequently called the law in Scripture : 
" Unless thy law had been my delight, &c. — To 
the law and to the testimony." This is spoken 
of the whole word of God, which is therefore 
called a law, because of its binding power upon 
the conscience. 

3. It hath a judging power: "The word that 
I have spoken, the same shall judge him at the 
last day." The sentence that God will pass upon 
sinners hereafter, is no other than what the word 
passeth upon him here. The judgment of God, 
is not a day wherein God will pass any new 
sentence ; but it is such a day wherein God will 
make a solemn, public ratification of the judgment 
passed by the ministry of the word upon souls 
here. This I gather clearly from Matthew xviii. 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 15*7 

18: "Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth, shall 
be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall 
loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven :" so 
that, by bringing a man's heart to the word, and 
trying it by that, he may quickly know what that 
sentence is that God will pass upon his soul in 
the last day : for as the judgment of the word is 
now, such will the judgment of God be concern- 
ing him in the last day. 

Indeed, there is a twofold power, farther than 
this, in the word. It hath a begetting and sav- 
ing power : but this is put forth only upon some. 
But the other is more extensive, and hath a great 
causality upon a profession of goodness, even 
among them that have no grace. 

A man that is under this threefold power of 
discerning law and judgment, that hath his heart 
ransacked and discovered, his conscience bound 
and awed, his state and sinful condition judged 
and condemned ; may take up a resolution of a 
new life, and convert himself to great profession 
of religion. 

Thirdly, A may may go far in this course of 
profession from affectation of applause and credit, 
and to get a name in the world. As it is said of 
the Pharisees, they " love to pray in the market- 
places, and in the corners of the streets, to be 



158 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 



seen of men." Many are of Machiavel's princi- 
ple, — That the appearance of virtue is to be 
sought ; because, though the use of it is a trou- 
ble, yet the credit of it is a help. Jerome, in his 
Epistle to Julian, calls such, " the base bond- 
slaves of common fame." Many a man doth that 
for credit, that he will not do for conscience ; and 
owns religion more for the sake of lust, than for 
the sake of Christ : thus making God's stream to 
turn the devil's mill. 

Fourthly, It is from a desire of salvation. 
There is in all men a desire of salvation : it is 
natural to every being to love and seek its own 
preservation. " Who will show us any good ?" 
— This is the language of nature, seeking happi- 
ness to itself. 

Many a man may be carried so far out in the 
desires of salvation, as to do many things to ob- 
tain it. So did the young man : " Good Master, 
what good things shall I do, that I may inherit 
eternal life ?" He went far, and did much, obey- 
ing many commands, and all out of a desire of 
salvation. So, then, put these together, and there 
is an answer to that question. 

" The call of conscience — the power of the 
word — the affectation of credit — and the desire 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 159 

of salvation." These may carry a man so far as 
to be almost a Christian. 



Question III. 

Whence is it that many are but almost Chris- 
tians when they have gone thus far ? What is the 
cause of this ? 

Answer. I might multiply answers to this 
question, but I shall instance in two only, which 
I judge the most material. 

First, It is for want of right and sound convic- 
tion. If a man be not thoroughly convinced of 
sin, and his heart truly broken, whatever his pro- 
fession of godliness may be, yet he will be sure 
to miscarry. Every work of conviction is not a 
thorough work : there are convictions that are 
not only natural and rational, but not from the 
powerful work of the Spirit of God. 

Rational conviction is " that which proceeds 
from the working of a natural conscience, charg- 
ing guilt from the light of nature, by the help of 
those common principles of reason that are in all 
men." This is the conviction you read of, Rom. 
ii. 14, 15. It is said that the Gentiles who had 
not the law, yet had their consciences bearing 
witness, and accusing or excusing one another. 
15* 



160 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

Though they had not the light of Scripture, yet 
they had convictions from the light of nature. 
Now, by the help of the Gospel light, these con- 
victions may be much improved, and yet the heart 
not renewed. 

But then there is a spiritual conviction ; and 
this is that work of the spirit of God upon the 
sinner's heart by the word, whereby the guilt and 
filth of sin is fully discovered, and the wo and 
misery of a natural state distinctly set home upon 
the conscience, to the dread and terror of the 
sinner whilst he abides in that state and condition. 
And this is the conviction that is a sound and 
thorough work. Many have their convictions, 
but not this spiritual conviction. 

Query. Now you will say, " Suppose I am at 
any time under conviction, how shall I know 
whether my convictions be only from a natural 
conscience, or whether they be from the Spirit of 
God?" 

Answer. I should digress too much to draw out 
the solution of this question to its just length. I 
shall, therefore, in five things only, lay down the 
most considerable difference between the one and 
the other. 

1. Natural convictions reach chiefly to open 
and scandalous sins. Sins against the light of 



fc: 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 161 

nature ; for natural conviction can reach no far- 
ther than natural light. But spiritual conviction 
reaches to secret, inward, and undiscerned sins ; 
such as hypocrisy, formality, lukewarmness, dead- 
ness, and hardness of heart, &c. 

Observe, then, whether your trouble for sin 
looks inward as well as outward, and reaches not 
only to open sins, but to secret lusts, to inward 
and spiritual sins ; and if so, this is a sure sign 
of the work of the Spirit, because the trouble oc- 
casioned by these sins, bears a more immediate 
relation to the holiness of God, who only is of- 
fended by them ; they being such as none else 
can see or know. 

2. Natural convictions deal only with a man's 
conversation, not with his state and condition : 
with sins actual, not original. But spiritual con- 
viction reaches to all sins ; to sins of heart, as well 
as sins of life ; to the sin of our nature, as well 
as the sins of practice ; to the sin that is born in 
us, as well as the sin that is done by us. Where 
the Spirit of the Lord cometh to work effectually 
in any soul, he holdeth the glass of the law before 
the sinner's eyes, and openeth his eyes to look 
into the glass, and to see all that deformity and 
filthiness that is in his heart and nature. 

The apostle Paul said, " I had not known sin 



162 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

but by the law." How can this be true, that he 
had not known sin but by the law, when the light 
of nature discovers sin ? It is said of the Gen- 
tiles, that having not the law, they had a law to 
themselves. This sin, therefore, that the apostle 
speaks of, is not to be understood of sin actual, 
but of sin original : " I had not known the pol- 
lution of nature, that fountain of sin that is within ; 
this I had not known but by the law." And, 
indeed, this is a discovery that natural light can- 
not make. 

It is true, the philosopher could say, " That 
lust is the first and chief of all sins." But I can- 
not think he meant it of original sin, but of the 
inordinacy of appetite and desire, at most ; for 
I find that the wisest of the philosophers un- 
derstood nothing of original sin. Hear Seneca : 
" Sin is not born with thee, but brought in since." 

Quintilian saith, " It is more marvel that any 
one man sins, than that all men should live hon- 
estly ; sin is so against the nature of men." — How 
blind were they in this point ! And so was Paul, 
till the Spirit of the Lord discovered it to him by 
the word, and indeed, this is a discovery proper 
to the Spirit. It is he that makes the sinner see 
all the deformity and filthiness that is within ; it 
is he that pulleth off all the sinner's rags, and 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 163 

makes him see his naked and wretched condition ; 
it is he that shows us the blindness of the mind, 
the stubbornness of the will, the disorderedness 
of the affections, the searedness of the con- 
science, the plague of our hearts, and the sin of 
our natures, and therein the desperateness of our 
state. 

3. Natural convictions carry the soul out to 
look more on the evil that comes by sin, than on 
the evil that is in sin. So that the soul under this 
conviction is more troubled at the dread of hell, 
and wrath, and damnation, than at the vileness 
and heinous nature of sin. But now spiritual 
convictions work the soul into a greater sensible- 
ness of the evil that is in sin, than of the evil 
that comes by sin : the dishonor done to God by 
walking contrary to his will ; the wounds that 
are made in the heart of Christ ; the grief that 
the holy Spirit of God is put to, — this wounds 
the soul more than a thousand hells. 

4. Natural convictions are not durable, they 
"are quickly worn out:" they are like a slight 
cut in the skin, that bleeds a little, and is sore 
for the present, but is soon healed again, and in 
a few days not so much as a scar to be seen. 
But spiritual convictions are durable, they can- 
not be worn out, they abide in the soul till they 



164 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

have reached their end, which is the change of 
the sinner. 

The convictions of the Spirit are like a deep 
wound in the flesh, that goes to the bone, and 
seems to endanger the life of the patient, and is 
not healed but with great skill, and when it is 
healed leaves a scar behind it, that when the pa- 
tient is well, yet he can say, " Here is the mark 
of my wound, which will never wear out." So 
a soul that is under spiritual conviction — his 
wound is deep, and not to be healed, but by the 
great skill of the heavenly Physician : and when 
it is healed, there are the tokens of it remaining 
in the soul, that can never be worn out ; so that 
the soul may say, " Here are the marks and signs 
of my conviction still in my soul." 

5. Natural convictions make the soul shy of 
God. Guilt works fear, and fear causes estrang- 
edness. Thus it was with Adam, when he saw 
his nakedness he ran away and hid himself from 
God. Now spiritual convictions drive not the 
soul from God, but unto God. Ephraim's con- 
viction was spiritual, and he runs to God, " Turn 
thou me, and I shall be turned." So that there 
is, you see, a great difference between conviction 
and conversion : between that which is natural 
and that which is spiritual ; that which is com- 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 165 

mon, and that which is saving. Yea, such is the 
difference, that though a man hath never so much 
of the former, yet if he be without the latter, he 
is but almost a Christian, and therefore we have 
great reason to inquire more after this spiritual 
conviction. For, 

1. Spiritual conviction is an essential part of 
sound conversion. Conversion begins here ; true 
conversion beo-ins in convictions, and true COnviC- 
tions end in conversion. Till the sinner be con- 
vinced of sin, he can never be converted from sin ; 
Christ's cominop was as a Saviour to die for sin- 
ners ; and the Spirit's coming is to convince us 
as sinners, that we may close with Christ as a 
Saviour : till sin be thoroughly discovered to us, 
interest in the blood of Christ cannot rightly be 
claimed by us ; nay, so long as sin is unseen, 
Christ will be unsought. " They that be whole 
need not the physician, but they that are sick." 

2. Slight and common convictions, when they 
are but skin-deep, are the cause of much hypoc- 
risy : slight convictions may bring the soul to 
clasp about Christ, but not to close with Christ ; 
and this is the guise of a hypocrite. I know no 
other rise and spring of hypocrisy, like this of 
slight convictions : this hath filled the church of 
Christ with hypocrites. Nay, it is not only the 



166 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

spring of hypocrisy, but it is also the spring of 
apostasy. What was the cause that the seed 
was said to wither away ? It was because it 
had no deepness of earth. Where there is thor- 
ough conviction, there is a depth of earth in the 
heart, and there the seed of the word grows ; 
but where convictions are slight and common, 
there the seed withers for want of depth : so that 
you see clearly, in this one instance, whence it is 
that many are but almost Christians, when they 
have gone so far in religion, to wit, for want of 
sound convictions. 

Secondly, And this hath a near relation to the 
former : " It is for want of a thorough work of 
grace first wrought in the heart :" where this is 
not, all a man's following profession comes to 
nothing ; that scholar is never like to read well, 
that will needs be in his Grammar before he is 
out of his Primer : cloth that is not wrought well 
in the loom, will never wear well, nor wear long, 
it will do little service ; so that Christian that 
doth not come well off the loom, that hath not a 
thorough work of grace in his heart, will never 
wear well ; he will shrink in the wetting, and 
never do much service for God. It is not the 
pruning of a bad tree that will make it bring 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 167 

forth good fruit; but the tree must be made 
good, before the fruit can be good. 

He that takes up a profession of religion with 
an unbroken heart, will never serve Christ in 
that, profession with his whole heart. If there 
be not a true change in that man's heart, that 
yet goes far, and does much in the ways of God, 
to be sure he will either die a hypocrite or an 
apostate. 

Look, as in nature, if a man be not well born, 
but prove crooked or misshapen in the birth, 
why, he will be crooked as long as he lives ; 
you may bolster or stuff out his clothes to con- 
ceal it, but the crookedness, the deformity re- 
mains still; you may hide it, but you cannot 
help it ; it may be covered, but it cannot be 
cured. So it is in this case. If a man come 
into a profession of religion, but be not right 
born ; if he be not " begotten of God, and born 
of the Spirit ;" if there be not a thorough work 
of grace in his heart, all his profession of religion 
will never mend him ; he may be bolstered out 
by a life of duties, but he will be but a hypocrite 
at last, for want of a thorough work at first ; a 
form of godliness may cover his crookedness, but 
will never cure it. 

A man can never be a true Christian, nor ac- 
16 



168 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

cepted of God, though in the highest profession 
of religion, without a work of grace in the heart. 
For, 

1. There must be an answerableness in the 
frame of that man's heart that would be accept- 
ed of God, to the duties done by him ; the spirit 
and affections within, must carry a proportion to 
his profession without ; prayer without faith, 
obedience to the law given, without fear and 
holy reverence of the lawgiver, God abhors : acts 
of internal worship must answer the duties of 
external worship. 'Now where there is no grace 
wrought in the heart, there can never be any 
proportion or answerableness in the frame of that 
man's heart, to the duties done by him. 

2. Those duties that find acceptance with God, 
must be done in sincerity. God doth not take 
our duties by tale, nor judge of us according to 
the frequency of our performances, but according 
to the sincerity of our hearts in the performance. 
It is this that commends both the doer and the 
duty to God ; with sincerity, God accepts the 
least we do ; without sincerity, God rejects the 
most we do, or can do. This is that temper of 
spirit which God highly delights in : " They that 
are of a fro ward heart are an abomination to the 
Lord, but such as are upright in the way are his 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 169 

delight." The apostle gives it a great epithet; 
he calls it, in 2 Cor. i. 12, the sincerity of God; 
that is, such a sincerity as is his special work 
upon the soul, setting the heart right and upright 
before him in all his ways. This is the crown of 
all our graces, and the condemnation of all our 
duties. Thousands perish, and go to hell in the 
midst of all their performances and duties, merely 
for want of a little sincerity of heart to God. 

Now where there is not a change of state, a 
work of grace in the heart, there can be no sin- 
cerity to God- ward ; for this is not an herb that 
grows in nature's garden : " The heart of man is 
naturally deceitful and desperately wicked :" more 
opposite to sincerity than to anything ; as things 
corrupted carry a greater dissimilitude to what 
they were than to anything else which they never 
were. 

" God made man upright." Now man volun- 
tarily losing this, is become more unlike himself 
than anything below himself; he is more like a 
lion, a wolf, a bear, a serpent, a toad, than to a 
man in innocency. So that it is impossible to 
find sincerity in any soul till there be a work of 
grace wrought there by the Spirit of God ; and 
hence it is that a man is but almost a Christian 
when he hath done all. 



170 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 



Question IV. 

What is the reason that many go no farther in 
the profession of religion, than to be almost Chris- 
tians ? 

Reason 1. It is because they deceive them- 
selves in the truth of their own condition ; they 
mistake their state, and think it good and safe, 
when it is bad and dangerous. A man may look 
upon himself as a member of Christ, and yet God 
may look upon him as a vessel of wrath : as a 
child of God, by looking more upon his sins than 
his graces, more upon his failings than his faith, 
more upon indwelling lusts than renewing grace, 
may think his case very bad when yet it is very 
good: "I am black," saith the spouse; "and 
yet," saith Christ, " thou fairest among wom- 
en !" So the sinner, by looking more upon his 
duties than his sins, may think he sees his name 
written in the book of life, and yet be in the ac- 
count of God a very reprobate. 

There is nothing more common than for a man 
to "think himself something when he is noth- 
ing;" and so he "deceives himself." Many a 
man blesses himself in his interest in Christ, when 
he is indeed a stranger to him. Many a man 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. lVl 

thinks his sin pardoned, when alas! "he is still 
in the gall of bitterness, and bond of iniquity. " 
Many a man thinks he hath grace, when he hath 
none : " There is," saith Solomon, " that makes 
himself rich, and yet hath nothing." This was 
the very temper of Laodicea: "Thou sayest, I 
am rich, and increased with goods, and have need 
of nothing ; and knowest not," (pray mind that,) 
" that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, 
and blind, and naked." 

Thou knowest not ; as bad as she was, she 
thought her state good ; as poor as she was in 
grace, she thought she was rich ; " as miserable 
and naked as she was, yet she thought she had 
need of nothing." 

Now there are several rises or grounds of this 
mistake. I will name five to you. 

First, The desperate deceitfulness of the heart 
of every natural man. " The heart is deceitful 
above all things." The Hebrew word is the same 
with Jacob's name. Now you know he was a 
supplanter of his brother Esau : " He is rightly 
called Jacob," saith he, " for he hath supplanted 
me these two times." So the word signifies, to 
be fraudulent, subtle, deceitful, and supplanting. 
Thus is the heart of every natural man " deceit- 
ful above all things." 

16* 



172 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

You read of the deceitfulness of the tongue. 

And of the deceitfulness of riches. 

And of the deceitfulness of beauty. 

And of the deceitfulness of friends. 

But yet the heart, is deceitful above them all. 
Nay, you read of the deceitfulness of Satan, yet 
truly a man's heart is a greater deceiver than he ; 
for he could never deceive a man, if his own heart 
did not deceive him. Now it is from hence that 
a man presumes upon the goodness of his case, 
from the desperate treachery of his own heart. 

How common is it for men to boast of the 
goodness of their hearts ! " I thank God, though 
I do not make such a show and pretence as some 
do, yet I have as good a heart as the best." 
do but hear Solomon in this case : " He that 
trusteth in his owm heart is a fool." Will any 
wise man commit his money to the cut-purse ? 
Will he trust a cheat ? It is a good rule, Re- 
member to distrust ; — and it was Austin's prayer, 
That man that trusts to his own heart, shall be 
sure to find himself deceived at last. 

Secondly, This mistake arises from the pride 
of a man's spirit ; there is a proud heart in every 
natural man: there was much of this pride in 
Adam's sin, and there is much of it in all Adam's 
sons. It is a radical sin, and from hence arises 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 173 

this overweening opinion of a man's state and 
condition. Solomon saith, " Be not righteous 
overmuch. " Austin, speaking occasionally of 
these words, saith, it is " not meant of the right- 
eousness of the wise man, but the pride of the 
presumptuous man." Now in this sense every 
carnal man is righteous overmuch; though he 
hath none of that righteousness which commends 
him to God, to wit, the righteousness of Christ, 
yet he hath too much of that righteousness 
which commends him to himself, and that is 
self-righteousness. 

A proud man hath an eye to see his beauty, 
but not his deformity ; his parts, but not his 
spots ; his seeming righteousness, but not his 
real wretchedness. " It must be a work of grace 
that must show a man the want of grace." The 
haughty eye looks upward, but the humble eye 
looks downward, and therefore this is the believ- 
er's motto, " The least of saints, the greatest of 
sinners ;" but the carnal man's motto is, " I thank 
God I am not as other men." 

Thirdly, Many deceive themselves with com- 
mon grace instead of saving, through that resem- 
blance that is between them. As many take 
counterfeit money for current coin, so do too 
many take common grace for true. Saul took 



174 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

the devil for Samuel, because he appeared in the 
mantle of Samuel : so many take common grace 
for saving, because it is like saving grace ; a man 
may be under a supernatural work, and yet fall 
short of a saving work ; the first raiseth nature, 
the second only reneweth nature : though every 
saving work of the Spirit be supernatural, yet 
every supernatural work of the Spirit is not sav- 
ing ; and hence many deceive their own souls, by 
taking a supernatural work for a saving work. 

Fourthly, Many mistake a profession of religion 
for a work of conversion, and outside reformation 
for a sure sign of inward regeneration. If the out- 
side of the cup be washed, then they think all is 
clean, though it be never so foul within. This is 
the common rock that so many souls split upon, 
to their eternal hazard, taking up a form of god- 
liness, but denying the power thereof. 

Fifthly, Want of a home application of the 
law of God to the heart and conscience, to dis- 
cover to a man the true state and condition he is 
in. Where this is wanting, a man will sit down 
short of a true work of grace, and will reckon his 
case better than it is. That is a notable passage 
which the apostle hints concerning himself : " I 
was alive without the law once ; but when the 
commandment came, sin revived, and I died." 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 175 

Here you have an account of the different appre- 
hensions Paul had of his condition with and with- 
out the word. 

1. Here is his apprehension of his condition 
without the word : " I was alive," saith he, 
" without the law." Paul had the law, for he 
was a Pharisee ; and they had the " form of 
knowledge, and of the truth of the law :" there- 
fore, when he saith he was " without the law," 
you must not take him literally, but spiritually : 
he was without the power and efficacy of it upon 
his heart and conscience, convincing, and awak- 
ening, and discovering sin ; and so long as this 
was the case, he doubted not of his state — he 
was confident of the goodness of his condition. 
This he hinted when he saith, " I was alive," but 
then, 

2. Here is his apprehension of his condition 
with the word, and that is quite contrary to what 
it was before : " when the commandment came," 
saith he, " then sin revived, and I died." When 
the word of the Lord came with power upon his 
soul, when the Spirit of God set it home effectu- 
ally upon his conscience, that is meant by the 
coming of the commandment ; " then sin revived, 
and I died ;" that is, I saw the desperateness of 
my case, and the filthiness of all my self-right- 



176 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

eousness. Then, my hope ceased, and my con- 
fidence failed ; and, as before, I thought myself 
alive, and my sin dead ; so when God had awak- 
ened conscience by the word, then I saw my sin 
alive and powerful, and myself dead and miser- 
able. So that this is the first reason why men go 
no further in the profession of religion, than to be 
almost Christians. It is because they mistake 
their state, and think it good when it is not ; 
which mistake is five-fold. 

1. A deceitful heart. 

2. A proud spirit. 

3. Taking common grace for saving. 

4. Outward reformation, for true regeneration. 

5. Want of home application of the law of 
God to the heart and conscience. 

Reason 2. It is from Satan's cunning, who, if 
he cannot keep sinners in their open profaneness, 
then he labors to persuade them to take up 
with a form of godliness. If he cannot entice 
them on in their lusts, with a total neglect of 
heaven, then he entices them into such a profes- 
sion as is sure to fall short of heaven. He will 
consent to the leaving some sin, so as we do but 
keep the rest ; and to the doing of some duties, 
so as we neglect the rest. Nay, rather than part 
with his interest in the soul, he will yield far to 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 177 

our profession of religion, and consent to anything 
but our conversion, and closing with Christ for 
salvation : he cares not which way we come to 
hell, so as he gets us but thither at last. 

Reason 3. It is from worldly and carnal policy. 
This is a great hindrance to many : policy many 
times enters caveats against piety. Jehu will not 
part with his calves lest he hazard his kingdom. 
Among many men there would be more zeal and 
honesty, were there less design and policy. There 
is an honest policy that helps religion, but carnal 
policy hinders it. 

We are commanded " to be wise as serpents :" 
now, " the serpent is the subtlest of creatures :" 
but then we must be as " innocent as doves." 
If piety be without policy, it wants security ; if 
policy be without piety, it wants integrity. Piety 
without policy is too simple to be safe ; and pol- 
icy without piety is too subtle to be good. Let 
men be as wise, as prudent, as subtle, as watch- 
ful as they will, but then let it be in the way of 
God ; let it be joined with holiness and integrity. 
That is a cursed wisdom that forbids a man to 
launch any further out in the depths of religion, 
than he can see the land, lest he be taken in a 
storm before he can make safe to shore again. 

Reason 4. There are some lusts espoused in 



1*78 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

the heart, that hinder a hearty close with Christ. 
Though they bid fair yet they come not to God's 
terms : " The young man would have eternal 
life ;" and he bid fair for it : a willing obedience 
to every command but one, but only one ; and 
will not God abate him one ? Is he so severe ? 
Will he not come down a little in his terms, when 
man rises so high ? Must man yield all ? Will 
God yield nothing ? No, my brethren, he that 
underbids for heaven, shall as surely lose it, as he 
that will give nothing for it. He that will not 
give all he hath — part with all for that " pearl 
of price" — shall as surely go without it, as he 
that never once cheapens it. The not coming up 
to God's terms is the ruin of thousands of souls ; 
nay, it is that upon which all that perish, do per- 
ish. A naked sinner to a naked Christ ; a bleed- 
ing, broken sinner, to a bleeding, broken Christ 
— these are God's terms. 

Most professors are like iron between two 
equal loadstones. God draws, and they pro- 
pend towards God ; and the world draws, and 
they incline to the world. They are between 
both ; they would not leave God for the world, 
if they might not be engaged to leave the world 
for God. But if they must part with all — with 
every lust, every darling, every beloved sin — 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 1*79 

why, then, the spirit of Demas possesses them, 
and God is forsaken by them. 

My brethren, this is the great reason why 
many that are come to be almost Christians go 
no farther. Some one beloved lust or other 
hinders them, and after a long and high profes- 
sion, parts them and Christ forever ; they did 
run well, but here it is that they give out, and 
after all fall short, and perish to eternity. 

Thus having answered these four questions, 
namely, 

1. How far a man may go in the way to heav- 
en, and yet be but almost a Christian. 

2. Whence it is that a man goeth so far as to 
be almost a Christian. 

3. When it is that a man is but almost a 
Christian, when he has gone thus far. 

4. What is the reason men go no farther in 
religion, than to be almost Christians ? 

I proceed now to the Application. 

Inference 1. That salvation is not so easy a 
thing as it is imagined to be. This is attested 
by our Lord Jesus Christ himself: " Strait is the 
gate, and narrow is the way that leadeth to life, 
and few there be that find it." The gate of con- 
version is a very strait gate, and yet every man 
that would be saved eternally, must enter in at 

17 



180 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

this strait gate ; for salvation is impossible with- 
out it : " Except a man be born again," born 
from above, " he cannot see the kingdom of 
God." 

Not that this gate is strait simply, and in re- 
spect of itself : — No ; for converting grace is free. 
The gate of mercy stands open all the day long. 
In the tenders of gospel grace, none are exclud- 
ed, unless they exclude themselves. Christ doth 
not say, " If such and such will come to me, I 
will ' not cast them out £." but " him that com- 
eth unto me," be he who or what he will, if he 
hath a heart to close with me, " I will in nowise 
cast him out." He saith not, "If this or that 
man will, here is water of life for him ;" but, "If 
any man will, let him take the water of life free- 
ly." Christ grudgeth mercy to none ; though 
salvation was dearly purchased for us, yet it is 
freely proffered us. 

So that the gate which leadeth to life is not 
strait on Christ's part, or in respect of itself, but 
it is strait in respect of us, because of our lusts 
and corruptions, which make the entrance diffi- 
cult. A needle's eye is big enough for a thread 
to pass through, but it is a strait passage for a 
cable rope : either the needle's eye must be en- 
larged, or the cable rope must be untwisted, or 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 181 

the entrance is impossible. So it is in this case 
— the gate of conversion is a very strait passage 
for a carnal, corrupt sinner to go in at. The soul 
can never pass through with any one lust beloved 
and espoused ; and, therefore, the sinner must 
be untwisted from every lust : he must lay aside 
the love of every sin, or he can never enter in at 
this gate, for it is a strait gate. And when he 
is in at this strait gate, he meeteth w r ith a narrow 
way to walk in : so our Lord Christ saith, " Nar- 
row is the way that leadeth to life ;" and what 
way is this, but the way of sanctification ? " For 
without holiness no man shall ever see the Lord." 
Now this way of sanctification is a very narrow 
way, for it lies over the neck of every lust, and 
in the exercise of every grace, subduing the one, 
and improving the other ; dying daily, and yet 
living daily ; dying to sin and living to God : — 
this is the way of sanctification ! And 0, how 
few are there that walk in this way ! The broad 
way hath many travellers in it, but this narrow 
way is like the ways of Canaan in the days of 
Shamgar. It is said, " In the days of Shamgar, 
the son of Anath, the highways were unoccupied, 
and the travellers walked through by-ways." In 
the Hebrew, it is, " through crooked ways :" the 
way of holiness is by the most an unoccupied 



182 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

way — so saith the prophet. " A way shall there 
be, and it shall be called the way of holiness, 
the unclean shall not pass over it ; no lion shall 
be there, nor any ravenous beasts shall go up 
thereon ; but the redeemed shall walk there." 
The unclean, and the lion, and the ravenous 
beast, they are in the crooked ways : none but 
the redeemed of the Lord walk in the way of the 
Lord. 

It is no wonder, then, that our Lord Christ 
saith of life, that "few there be that find it," 
when the gate is strait, and the way narrow, 
that leadeth to it. Many pretend to walk in 
the narrow way, but they never entered in at 
the strait gate ; and many pretend to have enter- 
ed in at the strait gate, but they walk not in the 
narrow way. 

It is a very common thing for a man to per- 
ish upon a mistake of his way ; to go on in those 
paths that take hold of hell, and yet hope to find 
heaven at last. Those twenty parts, fore-men- 
tioned, run into destruction, and yet many choose 
them, and walk in them as the way of salvation. 
As many profane and open sinners perish by 
choosing the way of death, so many formal pro- 
fessors perish by mistaking the way of life. This 
I gather from what our Lord Christ saith : " Few 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 183 

there be that find it ;" which doth clearly imply 
what in Luke xii. 24, he doth plainly express, to 
wit, that many seek it ; many seek to enter in, 
and yet are not able ; many run far, and yet do 
not " so run as to obtain ;" many bid fair for the 
Pearl of price, and yet go without it. Hell is 
had with ease, but the " kingdom of heaven suf- 
fers violence.' ' 

Inference 2. If many go thus far in the way 
to heaven, and yet miscarry, then, what shall 
be the end of them who fall short of these ! If 
he shall perish who is almost a Christian, what 
shall he do who is not at all a Christian ! If he 
that owneth Christ, and professeth Christ, and 
leaveth many sins for Christ, may be damned 
notwithstanding ; what then shall his doom be 
that disowneth Christ, and refuseth to part with 
one sin, one lust, one oath for Christ ; nay, that 
openly blasphemeth the precious name of Christ ! 
If he that is outwardly sanctified shall yet be 
eternally rejected, what will the case be of such 
as are openly unsanctified — that have not only 
the plague of a hard heart within, but also the 
plague-sore of a profane life without? If the 
formal professor must be shut out, surely then 
the filthy adulterer, swinish drunkard, the deep 

swearer, the profane Sabbath-breaker, the foul- 

17* 



184 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

mouthed scoffer, yea, and every carnal sinner 
much more. If there be a wo to him that falleth 
short of heaven, then how sad is the wo to him 
who falls short of them that fall short of heaven ! 
Ah, that God would make this an awakening 
word to sinners that are asleep in sin, without 
the least fear of death, or dread of damnation ! 

Use of Examination. 

Are there many in the world that are almost 
and yet but almost Christians ? Why, then, "it 
is time for us to call our condition into question, 
and to make a more narrow scrutiny into the 
truth of our spiritual estate ;" what it is, whether 
it be right or not ; whether we are sound and 
sincere in our profession of religion, or not. When 
our Lord Christ told his disciples, " One of you 
shall betray me," every one began presently to 
reflect upon himself ; " Master, is it I ? Master, 
is it I ?" So should we do, when the Lord dis- 
covers to us from his word, how many there are 
under the profession of religion that are but 
almost Christians, we should straightway reflect 
upon our hearts, " Lord, is it I ? Is my heart 
unsound. Am I but almost a Christian ? Am 
I one of them that shall miscarry at last ? Am 
I a hypocrite under the profession of religion ? 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 185 

Have I a form of godliness without the pow- 
er ?" 

There are two questions of very great import- 
ance, which we should every one of us often put 
to ourselves : — 

What am I ? 

Where am I ? 

1. What am I ? Am I a child of God or not ? 
Am I sincere in religion, or am I only a hypocrite 
under a profession ? 

2. Where am I ? Am I yet in a natural state, 
or a state of grace ? Am I yet in the old root, 
in old Adam ; or am I in the root Christ Jesus ? 
Am I in the covenant of works that ministers 
only wrath and death ? or am I in the covenant 
of grace, that ministers life and peace ? 

Indeed, this is the first thing a man should 
look at : there must be a change of state, before 
there can be a change of heart : we must come 
under a change of covenant, before we can be 
under a change of condition ; for the new heart 
and the new spirit is promised in the new cove- 
nant. There is nothing of that to be heard of in 
the old : now a man must be under the new cov- 
enant, before he can receive the blessing promised 
in the new covenant ; he must be in a new cove- 
nant-state, before he can receive a new covenant- 



!r 



186 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

heart. No mercy, no pardon, no change, no con- 
version, no grace dispensed out of covenant ; 
therefore this should be our great inquiry ; for if 
we know not where we are, we cannot know what 
we are ; and if we know not what we are, we 
cannot be what we should be ; namely, altogether 
Christians. Let me then, I beseech you, press 
this duty upon you that are professors. Try your 
own hearts ; " examine yourselves whether you 
are in the faith ; prove your own selves." — I urge 
this upon most cogent arguments. 

1. Because many rest in a notion of godliness 
and outward shows of religion, and yet remain 
in their natural condition. Many " are hearers 
of the word," but " not doers of it," " and so 
deceive their own souls." Some neither hear nor 
do ; these are profane sinners. Some both hear 
and do ; these are true believers. Some hear, but 
they do not do ; these are hypocritical professors. 

He that slights the ordinances cannot be a 
true Christian ; but yet it is possible a man may 
own them, and profess them, and yet be no true 
Christian. Who would trust to a profession, that 
shall see Judas a disciple, an apostle, a preacher 
of the gospel, one that cast out devils, to be cast 
out himself ? " He is not a Jew who is one out- 
wardly, neither is that circumcision which is out- 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 187 

ward in the flesh : but he is a Jew which is one 
inwardly : and circumcision is that of the heart, 
in the spirit, and not in the letter ; whose praise 
is not of men, but of God." 

2. " Because errors in the first foundation are 
very dangerous." If we be not right in the main, 
in the fundamental work ; if the foundation be 
not laid in grace in the heart, all our following 
profession comes to nothing : the house is built 
upon a sandy foundation, and though it may 
stand for awhile, yet '- when the floods come, and 
the winds blow and beat upon it, great will be 
the fall of it." 

3. " Because many are the deceits that our souls 
are liable to in this case." There are many things 
like grace that are not grace : now it is the like- 
ness and similitude of things that deceives, and 
makes one thing to be taken for another. Many 
take gifts for grace, common knowledge for saving 
knowledge ; whereas a man may have great gifts, 
and yet no grace ; great knowledge, and yet not 
Jesus Christ. 

Some take common grace for saving ; whereas, 
a man may believe all the truths of the gospel, 
all the promises, all the threatenings, all the ar- 
ticles of the creed, to be true, and vet perish for 
want of saving grace. 



188 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

Some take morality and restraining grace for 
piety and renewing grace ; whereas it is common 
to have sin much restrained, where the heart is 
not renewed. 

Some are deceived with a half-work, taking 
conviction for conversion, reformation for regen- 
eration ; we have many mermaid- Christians. Or, 
like Nebuchadnezzar's image, head of gold, and 
feet of clay. The devil cheats most men by a 
synecdoche, putting a part for the whole ; partial 
obedience to some commands, for universal obe- 
dience to all. Endless are the delusions that 
Satan fastens upon souls, for want of this self- 
search. It is necessary, therefore, that we try 
our state, lest we take the shadow for the sub- 
stance, and embrace a cloud instead of Juno. 

4. Satan will try us at one time or other. Pie 
will winnow us and sift us to the bottom ; and if 
we now rest in a groundless confidence, it will 
then end in a comfortless despair. Nay, God 
himself will search and try us at the day of judg- 
ment especially ; and who can abide that trial, 
that never tries his own heart ? 

5. Whatsoever a man's state be, whether he 
be altogether a Christian or not, whether his 
principle be sound or not, yet it is good to exam- 
ine his own heart. If he find his heart good, his 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 189 

principles right and sound, this will be matter of 
rejoicing. If he find his heart rotten, his princi- 
ciples false and unsound, the discovery is in order 
to a renewing. If a man have a disease upon 
him, and know it, he may send to the physician 
in time ; but what a sad vexation will it be, not 
to see a disease till it be past cure ? So for a 
man to be graceless, and not see it till it be too 
late, to think himself a Christian when he is not, 
and that he is in the right way to heaven, when he 
is in the ready way to hell, and yet not know it, 
till a death-bed or a judgment-day confute his 
confidence — this is the most irrecoverable misery. 

These are the grounds upon which I press this 
duty, of examining our state. that God would 
help us in the doing this necessary duty ! 

Question. You say, " But how shall I come to 
know whether I am almost or altogether a Chris- 
tian ? If a man may go so far, and yet miscarry, 
how shall I know when my foundation is right — 
when I am a Christian indeed ?" 

Answer 1. The altogether Christian closes with, 
and accepts of Christ upon Gospel terms. True 
union makes a true Christian : many close with 
Christ, but it is upon their own terms ; they take 
him and own him, but not as God offers him. 
The terms upon which God in the gospel offers 



190 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

Christ, are, that we shall accept of a broken Christ 
with a broken heart, and yet a whole Christ with 
the whole heart. A broken Christ with a broken 
heart, as a witness of our humility ; a whole Christ 
with a whole heart, as a witness of our sincerity. 
A broken Christ respects his suffering for sin ; a 
broken heart respects our sense of sin ; a whole 
Christ includes all his offices ; a whole heart in- 
cludes all our faculties. Christ is a King, Priest, 
and Prophet, and all as Mediator. Without any 
one of these offices, the work of salvation could 
not have been completed. As a Priest, he re- 
deems us ; as a Prophet, he instructs us ; as a 
King, he sanctifies and saves us. Therefore, the 
apostle says, " He is made to us a God of wis- 
dom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemp- 
tion." Righteousness and redemption flow from 
him, as a Priest, wisdom, as a Prophet, sanctifica- 
tion, as a King. 

Now many embrace Christ as a Priest, but yet 
they own him not as a King and Prophet ; they 
like to share in his righteousness, but not to par- 
take of his holiness ; they would be redeemed by 
him, but they would not submit to him ; they 
would be saved by his blood, but not submit to his 
power. Many love the privileges of the gospel, 
but not the duties of the gospel. Now these are 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 191 

but almost Christians, notwithstanding their close 
with Christ ; for it is upon their own terms, but 
not upon God's. The offices of Christ may be 
distinguished, but they can never be divided. But 
the true Christian owns Christ in all his offices : 
he doth not only close with him as Jesus, but as 
Lord Jesus : he says with Thomas, " My Lord, 
and my God." He doth not only believe in the 
merit of his death, but also conforms to the man- 
ner of his life. As he believes in him, so he lives 
to him : he takes him for his wisdom, as well as 
for his righteousness ; for his sanctification, as 
well as his redemption. 

2. The altogether Christian hath a thorough 
work of grace and sanctification wrought in the 
heart, as a spring of duties. Regeneration is a 
whole change ; " all old things are done away, 
and all thing's become new." It is a perfect 
work, as to parts, though not as to degrees. 
Carnal men do duties, but they are from an un- 
sanctifled heart, and that spoils all. A new piece 
of cloth never doth well in an old garment, for 
the rent is but made worse. When a man's 
heart is thoroughly renewed by grace, the mind 
savingly enlightened, the conscience thoroughly 
convinced, the will truly humbled and subdued, 
the affections spiritually raised and sanctified ; 

18 



192 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

and when mind, and will, and conscience, and af- 
fections, all join issue to help on with the per- 
formance of the duties commanded ; then is a 
man altogether a Christian. 

3. He that is altogether a Christian, looks to 
the manner, as well as to the matter of his duties. 
Not only that they be done, but how they be 
done. He knows the Christian's privileges lie in 
pronouns, but his duty in adverbs : it must not 
be only honum, good, but it must be bene, that 
good must be rightly done. 

Here the almost Christian fails, he doth the 
same duties that others do for the matter, but 
he doth them not in the same manner ; while 
he minds the substance, he regards not the cir- 
cumstance ; if he pray, he regards not faith and 
fervency in prayer ; if he hear, he doth not mind 
Christ's rule, "Take heed how you hear;" if he 
obey, he looks not to the frame of his heart in 
obeying, and therefore miscarries in all he doth : 
any of these defects spoil the good of every 
duty. 

4. " The altogether Christian is known by his 
sincerity in all his performances." Whatever a 
man does in the duties of the gospel, he cannot 
be a Christian without sincerity. Now, the almost 
Christian fails in this ; for though he doth much, 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 193 

prays much, hears much, obeys much, yet he is 
a hypocrite under all. 

5. He that is altogether a Christian, hath an 
" answerableness within to the law without." 
There is a connaturalness between the word of 
God and the will of the Christian ; his heart is, 
as it were, the transcript of the law ; the same 
holiness that is commanded in his word, is im- 
planted in the heart ; the same conformity to 
Christ, that is enjoined by the word of God, is 
wrought in the soul by the Spirit of God ; the 
same obedience which the word requireth of him, 
the Lord enableth him to perform, by his grace 
bestowed on him. This is that which is promised 
in the new covenant : " I will put my law in their 
inward parts, and write it in their hearts." Now 
the writing: his law in us, is nothing else but his 
working that grace and holiness in us which the 
law commandeth and requireth of us. 

In the old-covenant administration, God wrote 
his laws only upon tables of stone, but not upon 
the heart ; and therefore, though God wrote 
them, yet they broke them ; but in the new-cov- 
enant administration, God provides new tables : 
not tables of stone, but " the fleshly tables of the 
heart," and writes his laws there, that there 
might be a law within, answerable to the law 



194 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

without. And this every true Christian hath. 
So that he may say in his measure, as our Lord 
Christ did, "I delight to do thy will, my God ; 
thy law is within my heart." Every believer 
hath a light within him, not guiding him to de- 
spise and slight, but to prize and walk by the 
light without him ; the word commands him to 
walk in the light, and the light directs him to 
walk according to the word. Moreover, from 
this impression of the law upon the heart, obe- 
dience and conformity to God becomes the choice 
and delight of the soul ; for holiness is the very 
nature of the new creature : so that if there were 
no scripture, no Bible to guide him, yet he would 
be holy, for he hath received " grace for grace ;" 
there is a grace within to answer to the word of 
grace without. Now, the almost Christian is a 
stranger to this law of God within ; he may have 
some conformity to the word in outward conver- 
sation, but he cannot have this answerableness to 
the word in inward constitution. 

6. The altogether Christian is much in duty, 
and yet much above duty : much in duty, in re- 
gard of performances, much above duty, in re- 
gard of dependence ; much in duty by obeying ; 
but much above duty by believing. He lives in 
his obedience, but he doth not live upon his obe- 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 195 

dience, but upon Christ and his righteousness. 
The almost Christian fails in this. He is much 
in duty, but not above it, but rests in it ; he works 
for rest, and he rests in his works. He cannot 
come to believe and obey too ; if he believes, 
then he thinks there is no need of obedience, and 
so casts off that ; if he be much in obedience, 
then he casts off believing, and thinks there is 
no need of that. He cannot say with David, " I 
have hoped for thy salvation, and done thy com- 
mandments. " The more a man is in duty, and 
the more above it ; the more in doing, and more 
in believing, the more a Christian. 

7. " He that is altogether a Christian is uni- 
versal in his obedience." He doth not obey one 
command and neglect another, do one duty and 
cast off another ; but he hath respect to all the 
commands, he endeavors to leave every sin, and 
love every duty. 

The almost Christian fails in this, his obedience 
is partial and piece-meal ; if he obeys one com- 
mand, he breaks another ; the duties that least 
cross his lust, he is much in ; but those that do, 
he lays aside. 

The Pharisees "fasted, prayed, paid tithes," 
&c, but they did not lay aside their covetous- 
18* 



196 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

ness, their oppression ; they " devoured widows' 
houses," they were unnatural to parents. 

8. " The altogether Christian makes God's 
glory the chief end of all his performances." If 
he pray, or hear, or give, or fast, or repent, or 
obey, &c, God's glory is the main end of all. It 
is true, he may have somewhat else at the hither 
end of his work, but God is at the further end : 
as Moses's rod swallowed up the magicians' rods, 
so God's glory is the ultimate end that swallows 
up all his other ends. Now the almost Christian 
fails in this, his ends are corrupt and selfish ; 
God may possibly be at the hither end of his 
work, but self is at the other end ; for he that 
was never truly cast out of himself, can have no 
higher end than himself. 

Now then examine thyself by these characters, 
put the question to thine own soul. Dost thou 
close with Christ upon gospel terms ? Is grace 
in the heart the principle of thy performances ? 
Dost thou look to the manner, as well as the 
matter of thy duties ? Dost thou do all in sin- 
cerity ? Is there an answerableness within to 
the law without ? Art thou much above duty, 
when much in duty ? Is thy obedience universal ? 
Lastly, is God's glory the end of all ? If so, then 
thou art not only almost but altogether a Christian. 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 197 

Second Use of Caution. — " take heed of be- 
ing almost, and yet but almost a Christian !" It 
is a great complaint of God against Ephraim, that 
"he is a cake not turned.;" that is, half baked, 
neither raw nor roasted, neither cold nor hot, as 
Laodicea : " Because thou art neither hot nor cold, 
therefore I will spue thee out of my mouth." 
This is a condition that of all others is greatly 
unprofitable, exceedingly uncomfortable, and des- 
perately dangerous. 

First, " It is greatly unprofitable to be but al- 
most a Christian ;" for failing in any one point, 
will ruin us as surely as if we had never made 
any attempts for heaven. It is no advantage to 
the soul to be almost converted ; for the little 
that we want, spoils the good of all our attain- 
ments. We say, as good never a whit as never 
the near ; there is no profit in leaving this or that 
sin, unless we leave all sin. Herod heard John 
gladly, and did many things, but he kept his 
Herodias, and that ruined him. Judas did many 
things, prayed much, preached much, professed 
much, but yet his covetousness spoiled all ; one 
sin ruined the young man, that had kept all the 
commands but one. Thus he "that offends in 
one point, is guilty of all." That is, he that 
lives wilfully and allowedly in any one sin, brings 



198 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

the guilt of the violation of the whole law of 
God upon his soul, and that upon a twofold 
account. 

1. Because he manifests the same contempt 
of the authority of God, in the wilful breach of 
one, as of all. 

2. By allowing himself in the breach of any 
one command, he shows he kept none in obe- 
dience and conscience to God ; for he that hates 
sin as sin, hates all sin, and he that obeys the 
command as the express will of God, obeys every 
command. And for this cause the least sin, wil- 
fully, and with allowance lived in, spoils the 
good of all our obedience and lays the soul un- 
der the whole wrath of God. One leak in a ship 
will sink her, though she be tight every way 
else. " Gideon had seventy sons," and but one 
bastard, and yet that one bastard destroyed all 
his sons ; so may one sin spoil all our services ; 
one lust beloved may spoil all our profession, as 
that one bastard slew all the sons of Gideon. 

Secondly, " It is exceedingly uncomfortable ;" 
as appears in three ways. 

1. "In that such a one is hated of God and 
men." The world hates him because of his pro- 
fession, and God abhors him because of his dis- 
simulation ; the world hates him because he seems 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 199 

good, and God hates him because he doth but 
seem so. No person that God hates more than 
the almost Christian : " I would that thou wert 
either cold or hot ;" either all a Christian, or not 
at all a Christian. " Because thou art neither 
cold nor hot, therefore I will spew thee out of 
my mouth." What a loathsome expression doth 
God here use, to show what an utter abhorrency 
there is in him against lukewarm Christians ! 
How uncomfortable then must that condition 
needs be wherein a man is abhorred both of God 
and man ? 

2. " It is uncomfortable in regard of suffer- 
ings." For being almost a Christian, will bring 
us into suffering : but being but almost a Chris- 
tian, will never carry us through suffering. In 
Matt. xiii. 20, 21, it is said, " He that receiveth 
the seed into stony ground, the same is he that 
hears the word, and with joy receives it; yet hath 
he not root in himself, but dureth for a while ; 
for when tribulation or persecution ariseth be- 
cause of the word, by-and-by he is offended." 

There are four things observable in tjiese 
words. 

1. That the stony ground may receive the 
word with joy. 



200 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

2. That it may for some time abide in a pro- 
fession of it : He dureth for a while. 

3. That his profession will expose to suffering ; 
for, mark, persecution is said to arise because of 
the word. 

4. This suffering will cause an apostatizing from 
profession ; for that which is here called " offence," 
is in Luke viii. 13, called falling away : "which 
for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall 
away." 

I gather hence, a profession may expose a man 
as much to suffering as the power of godliness : 
but without the power of godliness there is no 
holding out in a profession under suffering. The 
world hates the show of godliness, and therefore 
persecutes it ; the almost Christian wants the 
substance, and therefore cannot hold out in it. 

Now this must needs be very uncomfortable ; 
if I profess religion, I am like to suffer ; if I do 
but profess it, I am never like to endure. 

3. " It is uncomfortable, in regard of that de- 
ceit it lays our hopes under ;" to be deceived of 
our hopes causeth sorrow as well as shame. He 
that is but almost a Christian, hopes for heaven ; 
but unless he be altogether a Christian, he shall 
never come there. Now to perish with hopes of 
heaven, to go to hell by the gates of glory, to 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 201 

come to the very door, and then be shut out, as 
the five virgins were ; to die in the wilderness, 
within the sight of the promised land, at the very- 
brinks of Jordan ; this must needs be sad. To 
come within a stride of the goal, and yet miss it; 
to sink within sight of harbor ; how uncomfort- 
able is this ! 

4. " As it is greatly unprofitable, and exceed- 
ingly uncomfortable, to be but almost a Christian, 
so it is desperately dangerous. " For, 

1. " This hinders the true work :" A man lies 
in a fairer capacity for conversion, that lies in 
open enmity and rebellion, than he that sooths 
up himself in the formalities of religion. This I 
gather from the parable of the two sons, which 
our Lord Christ urged to the professing Scribes 
and Pharisees. " There was a man had two 
sons ; and he came to one, and said, Go work to- 
day in my vineyard. He said, I will not ; but 
afterwards repented and went. And he came to 
the second, and said likewise ; and he said, I go, 
Sir ; but went not." The first represents the 
carnal, open sinner, that is called by the word, 
but refuses, yet afterwards repents, and believes. 
The second represents the hypocritical professor, 
that pretends much, but performs little. Now 
mark how Christ applies this parable : " Verily I 



202 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

say unto you, that the publicans and harlots go 
into the kingdom of God before you." 

And upon this account it is better not to be at 
all, than to be almost a Christian ; for the almost 
hinders the altogether. It is better, in this re- 
gard, to be a sinner without a profession, than to 
be a professor without conversion : for the one 
lies fairer for an inward change, when the other 
rests in an outward. Our Lord Christ tells the 
Scribe, " Thou art not far from the kingdom of 
God," yet never like to come there. None farther 
from the kingdom of God than such as are not far 
from the kingdom of God. As for instance, 
when there lies but one lust, one sin between 
a soul and Christ, that soul is not far from Christ: 
but now, when the soul rests in this nearness to 
Christ, and yet will not part with that one lust for 
Christ, but thinks his condition secured, though 
that lust be not subdued ; who is farther from 
the kingdom of God than he ? So our Lord 
Christ tells the young man, "One thing thou 
lackest." Why he was very near heaven, near 
being a Christian altogether, he was very near 
being saved ; he tells Christ he had kept all the 
commands. He lacked but one thing ; I say, but 
one thing : but it was a great thing. That one 
thing he lacked was more than all things he had, 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 203 

for it was the one thing necessary ; it was a new 
heart, a work of grace in his soul, a change of 
state, a heart weaned from the world. This was 
the one thing, and he that lacks this one thing, 
perishes with his all things else. 

2. " This condition is so like a state of grace, 
that the mistake of it for grace is easy and com- 
mon ;" and it is very dangerous to mistake any- 
thing for grace that is not grace ; for in that a 
man contents himself, as if it were grace. For- 
mality doth often dwell next door to sincerity, 
and one sign serves both ; and so the house may 
be easily mistaken, and by that means a man may 
take up his lodgirig there, and never find the way 
out again. 

What one saith of wisdom, (many might have 
been wise, had they not thought themselves so 
when they were otherwise) the same I may say 
of grace ; many a formal professor might have 
been a sincere believer, had he not mistook his 
profession for conversion, his duties for grace, 
and so rested in that for sincerity that is but hy- 
pocrisy. 

3. " It is a degree of blasphemy to pretend to 

grace, and yet have no grace." I gather this 

from Rev. ii. 9, — " I know the blasphemy of them 

which say they are Jews, and are not." This 

19 



204 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

place undergoes a variety of constructions ; Gro- 
tius and Parseus do not make their blasphemy to 
lie in their saying they are Jews, and are not ; 
but to lie in the reproaches that these Jews 
fastened upon Christ, calling him impostor, de- 
ceiver, one that hath a devil, &c. Brightman 
goes another way, and saith, this was the blas- 
phemy of these Jews ; they retained that way of 
worship that was abrogated, and thrust upon 
God those old rites and ceremonies that Jesus 
Christ had abolished, and nailed to his cross, by 
which they overthrew the glory of Christ, and 
denied his coming. But I conceive the blas- 
phemy of these Jews to lie in tffis, that they said 
they were Jews and were not. A Jew here is 
not to be taken literally and strictly only, for one 
of the lineage of Abraham, but it is to be taken 
metonymically for a true believer, one of the spir- 
itual seed of Abraham : " He is a Jew who is 
one inwardly ;" so that for a man to say he is a 
Jew when he is not, to profess an interest in 
Christ when he hath none, to say he hath grace 
when he hath none, this Christ calls blasphemy. 
But why should Christ call this blasphemy ? 
This is hypocrisy ; but how may it be said to be 
blasphemy ? Why, he blasphemes the great at- 
tribute of God's omnisciency, he doth implicitly 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 205 

deny that God sees and knows our hearts and 
thoughts ; for if a man did believe the omnis- 
ciency of God, that he searches the heart and 
sees and knows all within, he would not dare 
to rest in a graceless profession of godliness. 
This, therefore, is blasphemy in the account of 
Christ. 

4. " It is dangerous to be almost a Christian, 
in that this stills and serves to quiet conscience.' ' 
Now it is very dangerous to quiet conscience with 
anything but the blood of Christ: it is bad being 
at peace till Christ speak peace. Nothing can 
truly pacify conscience less than that which paci- 
fies God, and that is the blood of the Lord Christ. 
Now the almost Christian quiets conscience, but 
not with the blood of Christ : it is not a peace 
flowing from Christ's propitiation, but a peace 
rising from a formal profession, not a peace of 
Christ's giving, but a peace of his own making ; 
he silences and bridles conscience with a form 
of godliness, and so makes it give way to an un- 
doing, soul- destroying peace ; he rocks it asleep 
in the cradle of duties, and then it is a thousand 
to one it never awaketh more till death or judg- 
ment. 

Ah, my brethren, it is better to have conscience 
never quiet, than quieted any way but by " the 



206 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

blood of sprinkling :" a good conscience unquiet, 
is the greatest affliction to saints ; and an evil 
conscience quiet, is the greatest judgment to 
sinners. 

5. " It is dangerous to be almost a Christian, 
in respect of the unpardonable sin." The sin 
that the Scripture saith, " can never be forgiven, 
neither in this world nor in the world to come ;" 
I mean the sin against the Holy Ghost. Now 
such are only capable of sinning that sin as are 
but almost Christians. A true believer cannot ; 
the work of grace in his heart, that seed of God 
which abideth in him, secures him against it. 

The profane, ignorant, open sinner cannot ; 
though he live daily and hourly in sin, yet he can- 
not commit this sin, for it must be from an en- 
lightened mind. Every sinner, under the gospel, 
especially sins sadly against the Holy Ghost, 
against the strivings and motions of the Spirit : 
he " resists the Holy Ghost ;" but yet this is not 
tbe sin against the Holy Ghost. 

There must be three ingredients to make up 
that sin. 

1st, It must be wilful. "If we sin wilfully 
after we have received the knowledge of the truth, 
there remains no more sacrifice for sin." 

2d, " It must be against light and conviction, 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 201 

after we have received the knowledge of the 
truth." 

3d, It must be in resolved malice. Now you 
shall find all these ingredients in the sin of the 
Pharisees, Matt. xii. 22. Christ heals one that 
was " possessed of the devil ;" a great work, 
which all the people wondered at, verse 23. But 
what say the Pharisees ? see verse 24. " This 
fellow casteth out devils by the prince of devils." 
Now that this was the sin against the Holy Ghost, 
is clear ; for it was both wilful and malicious, and 
against clear convictions. They could not but 
see that he was the Son of God, and that this 
work was a peculiar work of the Spirit of God in 
him ; and yet they say, he wrought by the devil ! 
whereupon Christ charges them with this " sin 
against the Holy Ghost," verse 31, 32, 33.* Now 
the Pharisees were a sort of great professors; 
whence I gather this conclusion, that it is the pro- 
fessor of religion that is the subject of this sin ; 
not the open carnal sinner, not the true believer, 
but the formal professor. Not the sinner, for he 
hath neither light nor grace ; not the believer, for 
he hath both light and grace ; therefore the formal 
professor, for he hath light but no grace. Here, 
then, is the great danger of being almost a 

* Compare this with Mark iii. 23, 29, 30. 
19* 



208 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

Christian — he is liable to this dreadful unpardon- 
able sin. 

6. " The being but almost a Christian, subjects 
us to apostasy." He that gets no good by walk- 
ing in the ways of God, will quickly leave them 
and walk no more in them. This I gather from 
Hosea xiv. 9. "Who is wise, and he shall un- 
derstand these things ? prudent, and he shall 
know them ? for the ways of the Lord are right, 
and the just shall walk in them, but the transgres- 
sors shall fall therein." 

"The just shall walk in them." He whose 
heart is renewed and made right with God, he 
shall keep close to God in his ways. 

" But the transgressor shall walk therein." 
The word in the Hebrew is peshangim, from a 
word that signifies to prevaricate : so that we 
may read the words thus, " The ways of the Lord 
are right, and the just shall walk in them ; but 
he that prevaricates (that is, a hypocrite,) in the 
ways of God, he shall fall therein." 

An unsound heart will never hold out long in 
the ways of God : " He was a burning and a 
shining light, and ye were willing for a season to 
rejoice in that light." 

" For a season" — For an hour, a short space, 
and then they left him. It is a notable question 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 209 

Job puts concerning the hypocrite — " Will he 
delight himself in the Almighty ? will he always 
call upon God ?" 

He may do much, but those two things he 
cannot do : 

1. He cannot make God his delight. 

2. He cannot persevere in duties at all times, 
and in all conditions. 

He will be an apostate at last : the scab of 
hypocrisy usually breaks out in the plague-sore 
of apostasy. Conversion ground is standing 
ground ; it is terra firma ; but a graceless pro- 
fession of religion is a slippery ground, and fall- 
ing ground ; Julian the apostate, was first Julian 
the professor. I know it is possible a believer 
may fall, but yet " he rises again, the everlasting 
arms are underneath ;" but when the hypocrite 
falls, who shall help him up ? Solomon saith, 
"Wo to him that is alone when he falls !" that 
is without interest in Christ. Why wo to him ? 
"For he hath none to help him up." If Jesus 
Christ do not recover him, who can ? David 
fell and was restored, for he had one to help 
him up ; but Judas fell and perished, for he 
w r as alone. 

7. "This being but almost a Christian, pro- 



210 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

vokes God to bring dreadful spiritual judgments 
upon a man." 

Barrenness is a spiritual judgment : now this 
provokes God to give us up to barrenness. When 
Christ found the fig-tree that had leaves but no 
fruit, he pronounces the curse of barrenness upon 
it : " Never fruit grow on thee more." And so 
Ezek. xlvii. 11: "The miry places thereof, and 
the marshy places thereof, shall not be healed ; 
they shall be given to salt." 

A spirit of delusion is a sad judgment. Why, 
this is the almost Christian's judgment, that re- 
ceives the truth, but not in the love of it : " Be- 
cause they received not the love of the truth, 
that they might be saved ; for this cause God 
shall send them strong delusions." 

To lose either light or sight, either ordinances 
or eyes, is a great spiritual judgment. Why, 
this is the almost Christian's judgment : he that 
profits not under the means of God, provokes 
God to take away either light or sight ; either 
the ordinances from before his eyes, or else to 
bind his eyes under the ordinances. 

To have a hard heart, is a dreadful judgment, 
and there is no hypocrite but he hath a hard 
heart. 

My brethren, it is a dreadful thing for God to 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 211 

give a man up to spiritual judgments ! Now this 
being almost a Christian, provokes God to give a 
man up to spiritual judgments : surely, there- 
fore, it is a very dangerous thing to be almost a 
Christian ! 

8. u Being almost and but almost Christians, 
will exceedingly aggravate our damnation." The 
higher a man rises under the means, the lower he 
falls if he miscarries : he that falls but a little 
short of heaven, will fall deepest into hell ; he that 
hath been nearest to conversion, being not con- 
verted, shall have the deepest damnation when 
he is judged. Capernaum's sentence shall ex- 
ceed Sodom's for severity ; because she exceeded 
Sodom in the enjoyment of mercy — she received 
more from God, she knew more of God, she pro- 
fessed much for God, and yet was not right with 
God ; therefore, she shall be punished more by 
God. The higher the rise, the greater the fall ; 
the higher the profession, the lower the damna- 
tion. He miscarrieth with a light in his hand : 
he perisheth under many convictions; and con- 
victions never end but in a sound conversion, as 
in all saints ; or in a sad damnation, as in all hypo- 
crites. Praying-ground, hearing-ground, profes- 
sing-ground, and conviction-ground, is, of all, the 
worst ground to perish upon. 



212 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

Now, then, to sum up all under this head. 

If to be almost a Christian hinders the true 
work of conversion ; if it be easily mistaken for 
conversion ; if it be a degree of blasphemy ; if 
this be that which quiets conscience ; if this sub- 
jects a man to commit the unpardonable sin ; if 
it lays us liable to apostasy ; if it provokes God 
to give us up to spiritual judgments ; and if it be 
that which exceedingly aggravates our damna- 
tion ; sure then it is a very dangerous thing to 
be almost and but almost a Christian ! 

labor to be altogether Christians, to go far- 
ther than they who have gone farthest, and yet 
fall short ! This is the great counsel of the Holy 
Ghost : <e So run that ye may obtain. — Give dili- 
gence to make your calling and election sure." 

Need you any motives to quicken you up to 
this important duty ? 

Consideration 1. "This is that which is not 
only commanded by God, but that whereunto all 
the commands of God tend." A perfect con- 
formity of heart and life to God, is the sum and 
substance of all the commands both of the Old 
and the New Testament. As the harlot was for 
the dividing of the child, so Satan is for dividing 
the heart. He would have our love and affec- 
tions shared between Christ and our lusts ; for 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 213 

he knows that Christ reckons we love him not at 
all, unless we love him above all. But God will 
have all or none : " My son, give me thy heart. 
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy 
heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might." 
Look into the Scripture, and see what that is 
upon which you only stand, and you shall find 
that God hath fixed it upon those great duties 
which alone tend to the perfection of your state 
as Christians. God hath fixed your only upon 
believing ; only believe. God hath fixed your 
only upon obedience : " Thou shalt worship the 
Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." 
" Only let your conversation be such as becometh 
the gospel of Christ." So that your only is fixed 
by God upon these two great duties of believing 
and obeying ; both which tend to the perfection 
of your state as Christians. Now, shall God com- 
mand, and shall not we obey ? Can there be a 
higher motive to duty than the authority of the 
great God, whose will is the eternal rule of right- 
eousness ? " let us fear God, and keep his 
commandments," for this is the whole duty of 
man ! 

Consideration 2. " The Lord Christ is a Sav- 
iour throughout, a perfect and complete Media- 
tor." He hath not shed his blood by halves, nor 



214 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

satisfied the justice of God, and redeemed sinners 
by halves. No, but he went through with his 
undertaking ; he bore all our sins, and shed all 
his blood : he died to the utmost, satisfied the 
justice of God to the utmost, redeemed sinners 
to the utmost, and now that he is in heaven he 
intercedeth to the utmost, and is able to save to 
the utmost. 

It is observed, that our Lord Christ, when he 
was upon the earth, in the days of his flesh, he 
wrought no half-cures ; but whomsoever they 
brought to him for healing, he healed them 
throughout ; " They brought unto him all that 
were diseased, and besought him that they might 
only touch the hem of his garment, and as many 
as touched were made perfectly whole." 

what an excellent physician is here ! none 
like him ! he cureth infallibly, suddenly, and per- 
fectly ! 

He cureth infallibly. None ever came to him 
for healing that went without it ; he never prac- 
tised upon any that miscarried under his hand. 

He cureth suddenly. No sooner is his garment 
touched, but his patient is healed. The leper, 
Matt. viii. 3, is no sooner touched, but immediately 
cured ; the two blind men, Matt. xx. 34, are no 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 215 

sooner touched, but their eyes were immediately 
opened. 

He cureth perfectly : " As many as were 
touched, were made perfectly whole." 

Now all this was to show what a perfect and 
complete Saviour Jesus Christ would be to all 
sinners that would come to him. They should 
find healing in his blood, virtue in his righteous- 
ness, and pardon for all their sins, whatever 
they were. Look ! as Christ healed all the dis- 
eases of all that came to him, when he was on 
earth, so he pardons all the sins, and healeth all 
the wounds of all those souls that come to him, 
now he is in heaven. He is a Saviour through- 
out ; and shall not we be saints throughout ? 
Shall he be altogether a Redeemer ; and shall 
not we be altogether believers ? 0, what a shame 
is this ! 

Consideration 3. "There is enough in religion 
to engage us to be altogether Christians ;" and 
that whether we respect profit or comfort, for 
grace brings both. 

First, " Religion is a gainful thing ;" and this 
is a compelling motive that becomes effectual 
upon all. Gain is the god whom the world wor- 
ships. What will not men do, what will they 
not suffer for gain ? What journeys do men 

20 



216 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

take by land, what voyages by sea, through hot 
and cold, through fair and foul, through storm 
and shine, through day and night, and all for 
gain ! Now there is no calling so gainful as this 
of religion ; it is the most profitable employment 
we can take up. " Godliness is profitable unto 
all things." It is a great revenue. If it be 
closely followed, it brings in the greatest income. 
Indeed, some men are religious for the world's 
sake; such shall be sure not to gain*: but they 
who are religious for religion's sake, shall be 
sure not to lose, if heaven and earth can recom- 
pense them ; for " godliness hath the promise 
both of the life that now is, and of that which is 
to come." 

Ah, who would not be a Christian, when the 
gain of godliness is so great ! Many gain much 
in their worldly calling, but the profit which the 
true believer hath from one hour's communion 
with God in Christ, weigheth down all the gain 
of the world. " Cursed be that man who counts 
all the gain of the world worth one hour's com- 
munion with Jesus Christ," saith that noble Mar- 
quis, Galeacius Caracciola. It is nowhere said in 
Scripture, " Happy is the man that findeth silver, 
and the man that oretteth fine o-old." These are 
of no weight in the balance of the sanctuary ; but 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 217 

it is said, " Happy is the man that findeth wis- 
dom, and the man that getteth understanding ; 
for the merchandise of it is better than the mer- 
chandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine 
gold." By wisdom and understanding here, we 
are to understand the grace of Christ ; and so 
the spirit of God interpreteth it. " Behold the 
fear of the Lord, that is wisdom ; and to depart 
from evil is understandino-." Now of all mer- 
chants, he that trades in this wisdom and under- 
standing will prove the richest man : one grain 
of godliness outweigheth all the gold of Ophir. 
There is no riches like being rich in grace : for, 

1. This is the most necessary riches ; other 
things are not so. Silver and gold are not so : 
we may be happy without them. There is but 
one thing necessary, and that is the grace of 
Jesus Christ in the heart. Have this, and have 
all ; want this, and want all. 

2. It is the most substantial gain. The things 
of this world are more shadow than substance. 
Pleasure, honor, and profit comprehend all things 
in this world, and therefore are the carnal man's 
trinity. The apostle John calls them " the lust 
of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride 
of life;" this, (saith he,) is all that is in the 
world : and truly, if this be all, all is nothing ; 



218 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

for what is pleasure but a dream and conceit ? 
what is honor, but fancy and opinion ? and what 
is profit, but a thing of naught ? " Why wilt 
thou set thy eyes upon that which is not ?" The 
things of the world have in them no sound sub- 
stance, though foolish, carnal men call them sub- 
stance. But now grace is a substantial good ; so 
our Lord Christ calls it : " That I may cause 
those that love me to inherit substance," to inherit 
that which is. Grace is a reality : other things 
are but show and fancy. 

3. Godliness is the safest gain. The gain of 
worldly things is always with difficulty, but sel- 
dom with safety. The soul is often hazarded in 
the over-eager pursuit of worldly things ; nay, 
thousands do pawn, and lose, and damn their 
precious souls eternally, for a little silver and 
gold, which are but the guts and garbage of the 
earth : " and what is a man profited, to gain the 
whole world, if he lose his own soul ?" But the 
gain of godliness is ever with safety to the soul ; 
nay, the soul is lost and undone without, it, and 
not saved but by the attainment of it. A soul 
without grace is in a lost and perishing condition : 
the hazard of eternity is never over with us until 
the grace of Christ Jesus be sought by us, and 
wrought in us. 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 219 

4. " Godliness is the surest profit :" as it is 
safe, so it is sure. Men make great ventures for 
the world, but all runs upon uncertainty. Many 
venture much, and wait long, and yet find no re- 
turn but disappointment : they sow much, and 
yet reap nothing. But the gain of godliness is 
sure ; "to him that soweth righteousness shall 
be a sure reward." 

And as the things of this world are uncertain 
in the getting, so they are uncertain in the keep- 
ing. If men do not undo us, moths may ; if 
robbery doth not, rust may ; if rust doth not, fire 
may ; to which all earthly treasures are incident, 
as our Lord Christ teaches us, Matt. vi. 19. 
Solomon limneth the world with win^s : " Riches 
make themselves wings, and fly as an eagle tow- 
ards heaven. " A man may be rich as Dives to- 
day, and yet poor as Lazarus to-morrow. 
how uncertain are all worldly things ! But now 
the true treasure of grace is in the heart, that 
can never be lost. It is out of the reach both 
of rust and robber. " He that gets the world, 
gets a good he can never keep ; but he that gets 
grace, gets a good he shall never lose." 

5. "The profit of godliness lieth not only in 
this world, but in the world to come." All other 
profit lieth in this world only : riches and honor, 

20* 



220 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

&c, are called this world's goods, but the riches 
of godliness is chiefly in the other world's goods ; 
in the enjoyment of God, and Jesus Christ, and 
the Holy Spirit, among saints and angels in glory. 
Lo, this is the gain of godliness ; " such honor 
have all his saints." 

6. "The gain of godliness is a durable and 
eternal gain." All this world's goods are per- 
ishing ; perishing pleasures, perishing honors, 
perishing profits, and perishing comforts. "Riches 
are not forever," saith Job : "Hast thou entered 
into the treasures of the snow ?" Gregory upon 
these words observes, that earthly treasures are 
treasures of snow. What pains do children take 
to scrape and roll the snow together to make a 
snow-ball, which is no sooner done but the heat 
of the sun dissolves it, and it comes to nothing. 
Why, the treasures of worldly men are but treas- 
ures of snow. When death and judgment come, 
they melt away, and come to nothing. " Riches 
profit not in the day of wrath, but righteousness 
delivers from death." 

You see here the great advantage of godliness ; 
so that if we look at profit, we shall find enough 
in religion to engage us to be altogether Chris- 
tians. Or, 

2. "If we look at comfort," religion is the 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 221 

most comfortable profession. There are no com- 
forts to be compared to the comforts of grace 
and godliness. 

1. " Worldly comfort is only outward ;" it is 
but skin-deep : " In the midst of laughter the 
heart is sorrowful." But now the comfort that 
flows from godliness is an inward comfort, a spir- 
itual joy ; therefore it is called gladness of heart. 
" Thou hast put gladness in my heart :" other 
joy smooths the brow, but this fills the breast. 

2. " Worldly comfort hath a nether spring." 
The spring of worldly comfort is in the creature, 
in some earthly enjoyment ; and, therefore, the 
comfort of worldly men must needs be mixed and 
muddy : " an unclean fountain cannot send forth 
pure water." But spiritual comfort hath an up- 
per spring : the comfort that accompanies godli- 
ness, flows from the manifestations of the love of 
God in Christ, from the workings of the blessed 
Spirit in the heart, which is first a counsellor, 
and then a comforter : and therefore the comforts 
of the saints must needs be pure and unmixed 
comforts ; for they flow from a pure spring. 

3. "Worldly comfort is very fading and tran- 
sitory." " The triumphing of the wicked is but 
short, and the joy of the hypocrite is but for a 
moment." Solomon compares it to the " crack- 



222 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

ling of thorns under a pot/' which is but a blaze, 
and soon out : so is the comfort of carnal hearts. 
But now the comfort of godliness is a durable 
and abiding comfort ; " your heart shall rejoice, 
and your joy no man shall take from you." The 
comfort of godliness is lasting, and everlasting ; 
it abides by us in life, in death, and after death. 

First, " It abides by us in life :" grace and 
peace go together. Godliness naturally brings 
forth comfort and peace : " The effect of right- 
eousness shall be peace." It is said of the prim- 
itive Christians, " They walked in the fear of the 
Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost." 
Every duty done in uprightness and sincerity, 
reflects some comfort upon the soul. " In keep- 
ing the commands, there is great reward ;" not 
onl} 7 for keeping of them, but in keeping of them. 
As every flower, so every duty carries sweetness 
and refreshing: with it. 

Objection. "But who more dejected and dis- 
consolate than saints and believers ? whose lives 
are more uncomfortable ? whose mouths are more 
filled with complaints, than theirs ? If a condi- 
tion of godliness and Christianity be a condition 
of so much comfort, then why are they thus ?" 

Solution. That the people of God are often- 
times without comfort, I grant : " They may walk 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 223 

in the dark, and have no light." But this is 
none of the products of godliness : grace brings 
forth no such fruit as this ; there is a threefold 
rise and spring of it : — Sin within, Desertion and 
Temptation without. 

1. Sin within. The saints of God are not all 
spirit, and no flesh ; all grace, and no sin. They 
are made up of contrary principles : there is light 
and darkness in the same mind ; sin and grace in 
the same will ; carnal and spiritual in the same 
affections ; there is " the flesh lusting against 
the Spirit." In all these, and too oft the Lord 
knows, is the believer led away captive by these 
warring lusts. So was the holy apostle himself : 
" I find then a law, that, when I would do good, 
evil is present with me. I see another law in my 
members, warring against the law of my mind, 
and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin ;" 
— and this was that which broke his spiritual 
peace, and filled his soul with trouble and com- 
plaints, as you see : " wretched man that I 
am ! who shall deliver me from this body of 
death ?" So that it is sin that interrupts the 
peace of God's people. Indwelling lust, stirring 
and breaking forth, must needs cause trouble and 
grief in the soul of a believer ; for it is as natural 
for sin to bring forth trouble, as it is for grace 



224 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

to bring forth peace. Every sin contracts a new 
guilt upon the soul, and guilt provokes God ; 
and where there is a sense of guilt contracted, 
and God provoked, there can be no peace, no 
quiet in that soul, till faith procures fresh sprink- 
lings of the blood of Jesus Christ upon the 
conscience. 

2. " Another spring of the believer's trouble 
and disconsolateness of spirit, is the desertions of 
God ;" and this follows upon the former. God 
doth sometimes disappear, and hide himself from 
his people : " Verity, thou art a God that hideth 
thyself.' ' But the cause of God's hiding, is the 
believer's sinning : " Your iniquities have sepa- 
rated between you and your God, and your sins 
have hid his face from you." In heaven, where 
there is no sinning, there is no losing the light 
of God's countenance for a moment ; and if saints 
here could serve God without corruption, they 
should enjoy God without desertion ; but this 
cannot be. While we are in this state, remaining 
lusts will stir and break forth, and then God 
will hide his face, and this must needs be 
trouble : " Thou didst hide thy face, and I was 
troubled." 

The light of God's countenance, shining upon 
the soul, is the Christian's heaven on this side 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 225 

heaven ; and therefore it is no wonder if the hid- 
ing of his face be looked upon by the soul, as 
one of the days of hell. So it was by David : 
" The sorrows of death compassed me, the pains 
of hell gat hold upon me ; I found trouble and 
sorrow." 

3. "A third spring of that trouble and com- 
plaint that brims the banks of the Christian's 
spirit, is the temptations of Satan." He is the 
great enemy of saints, and he envieth the quiet 
and comfort that their hearts are filled with, when 
his conscience is brimmed with horror and terror : 
and, therefore, though he knows that he cannot 
destroy their peace, yet he labors to disturb their 
peace. As the blessed Spii'it of God is first a 
sanctifier, and then a comforter, working grace 
in order to peace ; so this cursed spirit of hell is 
first a tempter, and then a troubler ; first per- 
suading to act sin, and then accusing for sin ; 
and this is his constant practice upon the spirits 
of God's people. He cannot endure that they 
should live in the light of God's countenance, 
when himself is doomed to eternal, intolerable 
darkness. 

And thus you see whence it is that the people 
of God are often under trouble and complaint. 



226 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

All arises from these three springs of Sin within, 
Desertions and Temptations without. 

If the saints could serve God without sinning, 
and enjoy God without withdrawing, and resist 
Satan without yielding, they might enjoy peace 
and comfort without sorrowing. This must be 
endeavored constantly here, but it will never be 
attained fully but in heaven. But yet so far as 
grace is the prevailing principle in the heart, and 
so far as the power of godliness is exercised in 
this life ; so far the condition of a child of God is 
a condition of peace ; for it is an undoubted truth, 
that the fruit of righteousness shall be peace. 
But suppose the people of God experience little 
of this comfort in this life, yet, 

2. " They find it in the day of death." Grace 
and holiness will minister unto us then, and that 
ministration will be peace. A believer hath a 
twofold spring of comfort, each one emptying 
itself into his soul in a dying season ; one is from 
above him, the other is from within him. The 
spring that runs comfort from above him, is the 
blood of Christ sprinkled upon the conscience ; 
the spring that runs comfort from within him, is 
the sincerity of his heart in God's service. When 
we lie upon a death-bed, and can reflect upon 
our principles and performances in the service 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 227 

of God, and there find uprightness and sincerity 
of heart running through all, this must needs be 
comfort. It was so to Hezekiah : " Remember, 
Lord, how I have walked before thee in truth, 
and with a perfect heart ; and have done that 
which is good in thy sight." 

Nothing maketh a death-bed so uneasy and 
hard, as a life spent in the service of sin and lust; 
nothing makes a death-bed so soft and sweet, as 
a life spent in the service of God and Christ. 
Or put the case, the people of God should not 
meet with this comfort then ; yet, 

3. " They shall be sure to find it after death." 
If time bring none of this fruit to ripeness, yet 
eternity shall ; grace in time will be glory in eter- 
nity ; holiness now will be happiness then : 
" Whatever it is a man soweth in this world, that 
he shall be sure to reap in the next world : he 
that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap 
corruption : but he that soweth to the spirit, 
shall of the spirit reap life everlasting." When sin 
shall end in sorrow and misery, holiness shall end 
in joy and glory : " Well done, thou good and faith- 
ful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." 
Whoever shareth in the grace of Christ in this 
world, shall share in the joys of Christ in the 
world to come ; and that joy " is joy unspeakable, 

21 



228 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

and full of glory." Lo, here is the fruit of god- 
liness. Say now, if there be not enough in relig- 
ion, whether we respect profit or comfort, to en- 
gage us to be Christians throughout ? 

Consideration 4. " What an entire resignation 
wicked men make of themselves to their lusts ! 
and shall not we do so to the Lord Christ ?" 
They give up themselves without reserve to the 
pleasures of sin ; and shall we have our reserves 
in the service of God ? They are altogether sin- 
ners ; and shall not we be altogether saints ? 
They run, and faint not, in the service of their 
lusts ; and shall we faint, and not run, in the ser- 
vice of Christ ? Shall the servants of corruption 
have their ears bored to the door-posts of sin, in 
token of an entire and perpetual service, and 
shall we not give up ourselves to the Lord Christ, 
to be his forever ? Shall others make a " cove- 
nant with hell and death," and shall not we 
" join ourselves to God in an everlasting cove- 
nant that cannot be forgotten ?" Shall they take 
more pains to damn their souls, than we do to 
save ours ? and make more speed to a place of 
vengeance, than we do to a crown of righteous- 
ness ? Which do you judge best, to be saved 
everlastingly, or to perish everlastingly ? Which 
do you count the best master, God or the devil ? 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 229 

Christ or your lusts ? I know you will deter- 
mine it on Christ's side. then ! when others 
serve their lusts with all their hearts, do you serve 
Christ with all your hearts. If the hearts of the 
sons of men be fully set in them to do evil, then 
much more let the hearts of the sons of God be 
fully set in them to do good. 

Consideration 5. "If ye be not altogether 
Christians, ye will never be able to appear with 
comfort before God, nor to stand in the judgment 
of the last and great day." For this sad dilemma 
will silence every hypocrite : if my commands 
were not holy, just, and good, why didst thou own 
them ? If they were holy, just, and good, why 
dost thou not obey them ? If Jesus Christ was 
not worth the having, why didst thou profess 
him ? If he was, then why didst thou not cleave 
to him, and close with him ? If my ordinances 
were not appointed to convert and save souls, 
why didst thou sit under them, and rest in the 
performance of them ? Or if they were, then why 
didst thou not submit to the power of them ? If 
religion be not good, why dost thou profess it ? 
If it be good, why dost thou not practise it ? 
"Friend, how earnest thou in hither, not having 
on a wedding-garment ?" If it was not a wed- 
ding-feast, why didst thou come at the invitation ? 



230 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

If it was, then why didst thou come without a 
wedding-garment ? 

I would but ask a hypocritical professor of the 
Gospel, what he will answer in that day ? Yerily 
you deprive yourselves of all possibility of apol- 
ogy in " the day of the righteous judgment of 
God." It is said of the man that had no wed- 
ding-garment on, that when Christ came and ex- 
amined him, he was speechless. He that is 
graceless in a day of grace, will be speechless in 
a day of judgment : professing Christ without a 
heart to close with Christ, will leave our souls 
inexcusable, and make our damnation unavoidable 
and more intolerable. 

These are the motives to enforce the duty ; and 

that God would set them home upon your 
hearts and consciences, that you might not dare 
to rest a moment longer in a half- work, or in be- 
ing Christians within a little, but that you might 
be altogether Christians ! 

Question. But you will say possibly, "How 
shall I do ? What means shall I use, that I 
may attain to a thorough work in my heart ; that 

1 may be no longer almost, but altogether a 
Christian ?" 

Answer. Now I shall lay down three rules of 
direction instead of many, to further and help you 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 231 

in this important duty, and so leave this work to 
God's blessing. 

Direction 1. " Break off all false peace of eon- 
science ;" this is the devil's bond to hold the soul 
from seeking after Christ. As there is the peace 
of God so there is the peace of Satan ; but they 
are easily known, for they are as contrary as 
heaven and hell, as light and darkness. The 
peace of God, flows from a work of grace in the 
soul, and is the peace of a regenerate state ; but 
the peace of Satan is the peace of an unregener- 
ate state, it is the peace of death ; in the grave 
Job saith there is peace — " There the wicked 
cease from troubling ;" so a soul dead in sin is full 
of peace, the wicked one troubleth him not. The 
peace of God in the soul is a peace flowing from 
removal of guilt, by justifying grace — " Being 
justified by faith in his blood, we have peace with 
God ;" but the peace of Satan in the soul arises 
and is maintained by a stupidity of spirit, and 
insensibility of guilt upon the conscience. The 
peace of God is a peace from sin that fortifies the 
heart against it : " The peace of God that passeth 
all men's understanding, shall keep your hearts 
and minds through Christ Jesus." The more of 
this peace there is in the soul, the more is the 
soul fortified against sin ; but the peace of Satan 

21* 



232 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

is peace in sin : " The strong man armed keeps the 
house, and there is all at peace.' ' The saint's 
peace is a peace with God, but not with sin ; the 
sinner's peace is a peace with sin, but not with 
God : and this is a peace better broken than 
kept. It is a false, a dangerous, an undoing 
peace. My brethren, death and judgment will 
break all peace of conscience, but not that which 
is wrought by Christ in the soul, and is the fruit 
of the " blood of sprinkling :" " when he gives 
quietness, who can make trouble ?" Now that 
peace that death will break, why should you 
keep ? Who would be fond of that quietness 
which the flames of hell will burn in sunder ? 
and yet how many travel to hell through the 
fool's paradise of a false peace ? break off 
this peace ! for we can have no peace with God 
in Christ, whilst this peace remains in our hearts. 
The Lord Christ gives no peace to them that will 
not seek it ; and that man will never seek it that 
does not see his need of it ; and he that is at 
peace in his lusts sees no need of the peace of 
Christ. The sinner must be wounded for sin, 
and troubled under it, before Christ will heal his 
wounds, and give him peace from it. 

Direction 2. Labor after a thorough work of 
conviction ; every conviction will not do it. The 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 233 

almost Christian hath his convictions as well as 
the true Christian, or else he had never gone so 
far ; but they are not sound and right convictions, 
or else he had gone farther : God will have the 
soul truly sensible of the bitterness of sin, before 
it shall taste the sweetness of mercy. The plough 
of conviction must go deep, and make deep fur- 
rows in the heart, before God will sow the pre- 
cious seed of grace and comfort there, that so it 
may have depth of earth to grow in. This is the 
constant method of God : first to show man his 
sin, then his Saviour ; first his danger, then his 
Redeemer ; first his wound, then his cure ; first 
his own vileness, then Christ's righteousness. 
We must be brought to cry out, " Unclean, un- 
clean !" to mourn for Him whom we have pierced, 
and then he sets open for us a fountain to wash in 
for sin, and for uncleanness. That is a notable 
place, Job xxxiii. 27, 28. " He looked upon men ; 
and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that 
which was right, and it profited me not ; he will 
deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his 
life shall see the li^ht." The sinner must see 
the unprofitableness of his unrighteousness, before 
he profit by Christ's righteousness. The Israel- 
ites are first stung with the fiery serpents, and 
then the brazen serpent is set up. Ephrairn is 



234 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

first thoroughly convinced, and then God's bow- 
els of mercy worked toward him. Thus it was 
with Paul, Manasseh, the jailer. &e. So that this 
is the unchangeable method of God in working 
grace, to begin with conviction of sin. there- 
fore labor for thorough conviction ; and there 
are three things we should especially be con- 
vinced of. 

First, Be convinced of the evil of sin ; the 
filthy and heinous nature of it. This is the great- 
est evil in the world ; it wrongs God, it wounds 
Christ, it grieves the Holy Spirit, it ruineth a 
precious soul ; all other evils are not to be named 
with this. My brethren, though to do sin is the 
worst work, yet to see sin is the best sight ; for 
sin discovered in its vileness, makes Christ to be 
desired in his fulness. But above all, labor to be 
convinced of the mischief of an unsound heart ; 
what an abhorrence it is to God, what certain 
ruin it brings upon the soul. O think often upon 
the hypocrite's hell. " For this people's heart is 
waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, 
and their eyes they have closed ; lest at any time 
they should see with their eyes, and hear with 
their ears, and should understand with their 
heart, and should be converted, and I should heal 
them." 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 235 

Secondly, be convinced of the misery and des- 
perate danger of a natural condition ; for till we 
see the plague of our hearts and the misery of our 
state by nature, we shall never be brought off 
ourselves to seek help in another. 

Thirdly, Be convinced of the utter insufficiency 
and inability of anything below Christ Jesus to 
minister relief to thy soul in this case. All things 
besides Jesus Christ are " physicians of no 
value ;" duties, performances, prayers, tears, self- 
righteousness, avail nothing in this case ; they 
make us like the troops of Tema, to return 
" ashamed at our disappointment" from such 
" failing brooks." 

Alas ! it is an infinite righteousness that must 
satisfy for us, for it is an infinite God that is of- 
fended by us. If ever thy sin be pardoned, it is 
infinite mercy that must pardon it ; if ever thou 
be reconciled to God, it is infinite merit must do 
it : if ever thy heart be changed, and thy state 
renewed, it is infinite power must effect it ; and 
if ever thy soul escape hell, and be saved at last, 
it is infinite grace must save it. 

In these three things right and sound convic- 
tion lieth : and wherever the Spirit of God work- 
eth these thorough convictions, it is in order to a 
true and sound conversion : for by this means the 



236 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

soul is brought under a right qualification for the 
receiving of Christ. 

You must know, that a sinner can never come 
to Christ ; for he is dead in sin, in enmity against 
Christ, an enemy to God, and the grace of God ; 
but there are certain qualifications that come be- 
tween the soul's dead state in sin, and the work 
of conversion and closing with Christ, whereby 
the soul is put into a capacity of receiving the 
Lord Jesus Christ ; for no man is brought imme- 
diately out of his dead state and made to believe 
in Jesus Christ ; there are some qualifications 
coming in between. Now sound convictions are 
the right qualifications for the sinner's receiving 
Christ ; " for he came not to call the righteous, 
but sinners to repentance ;" that is, such as see 
themselves sinners, and thereby in a lost condition. 
So Luke exemplifies it : " The Son of Man is 
come to seek and to save that which was lost." 
" He is anointed, and sent to bind up the broken- 
hearted," to comfort all that mourn. 

therefore, if you would be sound Christians, 
get sound convictions ; ask those that are believ- 
ers indeed, and they will tell you, had it not been 
for their convictions, they had never sought after 
Christ for sanctification and salvation ; they will 
tell you they had perished, if they had not per- 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 237 

ished ; they had been in eternal bondage, but for 
their spiritual bondage ; had they not been lost 
as to Christ. 

Direction 3. Never rest in convictions till they 
end in conversion. This is that wherein most 
men miscarry : they rest in their convictions, and 
take them for conversion, as if sin seen were there- 
fore forgiven, as if a sight of the want of grace 
were the truth of the work of grace. 

That is a notable place in Hosea xiii. 13, 
" Ephraim is an unwise son, for he should not 
stay long in the place of the breaking forth of 
children." The place of the breaking forth of 
children is the womb ; as the child comes out of 
the womb, so is conversion born out of the womb 
of conviction. £7ow when the child sticks be- 
tween the womb and the world, it is dangerous, 
it hazards the life both of mother and child ; 
so when a sinner rests in conviction, and goes no 
farther, but sticks " in the place of the breaking 
forth of children ;" this is very dangerous, and 
hazards the life of the soul. 

You that are at any time under convictions, 
take heed of resting in them, do not stay long in 
the place of the breaking forth of children : 
though it is true, that conviction is the first step 
to conversion, yet it is not conversion ; a man 



238 THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 

may carry his convictions along with him into 
hell. 

What is that which troubleth poor creatures, 
when they come to die, but this — I have not im- 
proved my convictions ; at such a time I was con- 
vinced of sin, but yet I went on in sin in the face 
of my convictions ; in such a sermon I was con- 
vinced of such a duty, but I slighted the convic- 
tion ; I was convinced of my want of Christ, and 
of the readiness of Christ to pardon and save ; 
but alas ! I followed not the conviction. 

My brethren, remember this ; slighted convic- 
tions are the worst death-bed companions. There 
are two things especially, which above all others 
make a death-bed very uncomfortable : 

1. Purposes and promises not performed. 

2. Convictions slighted and not improved. 
When a man takes up purposes to close with 

Christ, and yet puts them not into execution ; 
and when he is convinced of sin and duty, and 
yet improves not his convictions, — this will 
sting and wound at last ! 

Now therefore, hath the Spirit of the Lord 
been at work in your souls ?/ Have you ever 
been convinced of the evil of sin, of the misery 
of a natural state, of the insufficiency of all things 
under heaven to help, of the fulness and righteous- 



THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN DISCOVERED. 239 

ness of Jesus Christ, of the necessity of resting 
upon him for pardon and peace, for sanctification 
and salvation ? Have you ever been really con- 
vinced of these things ? then, as you love 
your own souls, as ever you hope to be saved at 
last, and enjoy God forever, improve these con- 
victions, and be sure you rest not in them till 
they rise up to a thorough close with the Lord 
Jesus Christ, and so end in a sound and perfect 
conversion ! Thus shall you be not only almost, 
but altogether a Christian. 



THE END. 



5*<S©s*«-» » »E*S $ lk 



VALUABLE & 

t RELIGIOUS BOOKS, f 

FOR THE 

I 

! FIRESIDE AND SABBATH SCHOOL. l 

i 



MISS CHUBBUCK'S, (now Mrs. Judson) 

PRACTICAL STORIES. 
I 

| REVISED EDITIONS. 

I 

THE GREAT SECRET, 

Or How to be Happy. 

FANNY ELMORE, 

A SECOND PART TO THE GREAT SECRET. 

CHARLES LINN, 

Or How to Observe the Golden Rule. 

ALLEN LUCAS, 

The Self made Man. 

ft 
I 



9X 



THE 

PASTOR'S HANDBOOK, 

COMPRISING 

SELECTIONS OF SCRIPTURE, 
Arranged for various occasions of Official Duty. 

SELECT FORMULAS FOR THE MARRIAGE CEREMONY, ETC 

RULES OF ORDER 

FOR CHURCHES, ECCLESIASTICAL AND OTHER DELIBERATIVE 
ASSEMBLIES J AND 

TABLES FOR STATISTISTICAL RECORD. 



The Pastor's Handbook having within the last year found its way 
into the hands of about two thousand Pastors, and thus proved its 
adaptation to the wants of the clerical profession generally, has now 
been enlarged and greatly enriched in its matter. The following 
recommendations from ministers of different denominations, set forth 
the present character and claims of the book : 

"This book contains Scriptures arranged for occasions of official 
duty, as funerals, the visitation of the sick, the celebration 01 mar 
riage ; also several marriage forms suited to various modes of the 
Celebration of that institution •, also devotional excerpta for the cele- 
bration of marriage, for funerals, and for the Lord's Supper ; also 
rules for professional life and services, compiled from distinguished 
divines ; also, rules of order for ecclesiastical and other deliberative 
assemblies, together with various ecclesiastical formulas •, and finally, 
several tables by which may be preserved from year to year a statis- 
tical record of professional services, of the history of churches, of reli- 
gious denominations, and of Christian missions. Though repudiating 
cumbersome and restrictive form books, we believe that a book of 
this kind has long been felt to be a desideratum amongst Protestant 
clergymen of all denominations, and are persuaded that this volume, 
so comprehensive in plan, so various in matter, pointing out rules of 
professional service approved by the most eminent divines, and withal 
gotten up in a form and binding so convenient for use, will be found 
exceedingly serviceable to pastors generally. We cordially com- 
mend it to the attention of all, and especially young clergymen. 
Thomas H. Skinner, D. D. B. T. Welch, D D. 

George Peck, D D. John Dowling, D. D. 

G. B Cheever, D. D. Noah Levinga, D. D. 

Wm. R. Wdliams, D. D Rev. H Davis, 

Chas. Pitman, D D. Rev. J. L. Hodge, 

S. H. Cone, D. D. Rev. Edward Lathrop, 

Thomas D. Witt, D. X>. Rev. O. E J- del" 



THE 

SCRIPTURE TEXT-BOOK 

AND 

TREASURY; 

Forming a complete Index to the Doctrines, Duties, and 
Instructions of the Sacred Volume, 

It is designed to afford assistance to Ministers, Sunday- 
school Teachers, Tract Visiters, Authors in the composition 
of religious works, and individuals of all classes in the study 
of the Holy Scriptures. With fine Maps and Engravings . 
In two parts. The first part, or Text-Book, relates to doc- 
trines, duties, &c, forming a complete System of Theology 
The second part, or Treasury, relates to history, geography, 
manners, customs, arts, &c, forming a complete Bible dic- 
tionary. Thirty thousand copies sold in Great Britain in a 
few months. 

" Upon the first glance at this book, it struck us as little 
more than a Concordance new vamped. But on a further 
examination, we found it to be a work prepared with great 
labour, and adapted to great utility. And it is in our view 
eminently adapted to assist ministers, teachers and parents in 
their work ; and indeed all who are desirous to enrich their 
minds with the treasures of divine knowledge. 

" It is hardly possible to conceive of an arrangement under 
which can be shown the teachings of Scripture on a greater 
number of subjects." — New England Puritan. 



" I' is somewhat on the plan of Gaston's collections, (for 
which ±1 Is a good substitute,) but more compact and con- 
densed. Ministers, Sunday-school teachers, and all students 
of the Bible, will find it a very useful work. ' 

[Christian Advocate. 

u To Bible readers in general, but especially ministers, it 
is kiext in worth to the Bible itself." — Christian Messenger. 



" Gaston's Collections has been generally regarded as a 
standard work, and has been extensively useful to the minis- 
try and laity ; but with us, the Scripture Text-Book has the 
preference. Every minister, Sabbath-school teacher, and 
parent, who instructs his children in the Scriptures, shouid 
not fail to procure the work. — Western Star. 



A PURE CHRISTIANITY 

THE WORLDS ONLY HOPE. 

BY REV. R. W. OUSHMAN, 

PASTOR OF THE BOWDOIN SQUARE CHURCH, BOSTON 

A Practical and Standard Work. 

The events, in the religious world, that mark 
the present time, show that the day has come 
W !)?V h f corruptions of Christianity must be dealt 
with faithfully, and Christianity itself must be vin. 
abated from the surreptitious institutes and usages 
which have claimed its authority and assumed its 
name. 



This little book is a desideratum—ought to be read by 
all classes. It is a most able, not to say masterly vindica- 
tion 01 scriptural or primitive Christianity, both in refer- 
ence to us spirit and its organization and ordinances." 

[Baptist Record. 

" There is in this work a forcible statement of some pre- 
valent obstacles to the progress of pure religion which 
ought to be universally studied. The author shows a 
sagacious and penetrating mind in his view of the subject 
and a degree of boldness and outspoken honesty in setting 
it rorth, quite worthy of a follower of Roger Williams 
We commend it to all who love religious freedom, as 
worth study and admiration. "—New York Evangelist. 

"It is severe against the errors of the age ; is written 
with great vigor of style, and spiciness of ill ustration, and 
cannot fail to awaken interest "—Baptist Advocate 



LEWIS COLBY & CO.'s PUBLICATIONS. 



THE JUDSON OFFERING. 

Intended as a token of Christian Sympathy with the 

Living, and a Memento of Christian 

Affection for the Dead. 



BY REV. JOHN DOWLING, A. M r 
Author of M History of Romanism," &c. 



[Fifth Thousand,] 



ty This edition contains several additional articles, in 
prose and verse, relative to the departure of Mr. and 
Mrs. Judson for Burmah. 



Notices of tf)c former Hoittons. 



It is done up in fancy style, something after the fash- 
ion of the annuals; and a handsome engraving, repre 
sen ting " The Departure," faces the title. It is neat and 
spirited, and we doubt not, will meet, as it deserves, an 
extensive circulation. The fervent missionary spirit that 
runs through its pages, renders it a valuable work tor 
the young ; and we hope it will be selected by thou- 
sands as a holiday present, instead of the expensive, but 
less useful annuals, with which the shelves of the book- 
stores are plentifully supplied. — Christian Secretary, 



Altogether, it will form an acceptable popular offering, 
and obtain a wide circulation. Considering the taste and | 
perfection of the mechanical execution, the price is Jow. \ 
—New- York Recorder. j 

» 122 NASSAU-ST., NEW-YORK. ~J 



LEWIS COLBY & CO 's PUBLICATIONS 



jg 



The volume before ns is a coliec' jn of the effusions, 
in poetry and prose, which have o* en called forth by the 
arrival and presence of Dr. Judtfun in this country; to- 
gether with several pieces written expressly for this 
work, and " Sketches of Missionary Life," by its editor, 
comprising a brief, connected history of the leading 
events in the missionary life of Judson. The editor, 
with whose powers and talents as a writer, the readers 
of the Watchman have, for sometime, been well ac- 
quainted, has performed a task which cannot fail to be 
highly acceptable to the Christian public, and must have 
been very grateful to his own feelings. His " sketches" 
are very graphic and touching, and the whole arrange- 
ment of the volume displays sound sense, good taste, 
literary skill, and a deep interest in his theme. — Chris- 
tian Watchman. 

We are happy to commend this volume, both for the \ 
beauty of its execution, and for the valuable and inter- { 
esting matter it contains. Christian parents, or others, j 
who may wish to present a token of affection, will rind a 
suitable one in this " Offering." — New-England Puritan. 

The design of this work is to render the tribute, which 
every Christian heart must feel, to the pious labors and 
self-denial of Dr. Judson, who has been so long and 
successfully engaged in missionary labors in Burmah. 
It consists of various pieces of poetry aad prose, chiefly 
by the editor, of no little merit, and bearing upon the 
missionary enterprise. It is very neatly printed. — New- 
'. York Evangelist. 

It is composed of missionary pieces, from the most 
pious and gifted poetic and prose writers. The whole 
breathes a right spirit ; and it is a happy thing that this 
occasion has been seized upon to give popularity and 
currency to reading of so pure and benevolent a charac- 
ter. — Boston Recorder, 



122 NASSAU-ST., NEW- YORK. 



RECOMMENDATIONS 



Messrs. L. Colby <fe Co. 

«,* l ? A I! l fl d car efuUy Brother Remington's Mantiscript upo» 
the subject ot Strict Communion, and recommend its speedy publj 
cation. It contains several interesting historical facts, showing tht 
bigoted and persecuting nature of Infant Sprinkling; and proves 
conclusively that Pmdo-Baptists believe in close communion equally 
Hith the Baptists, and cannot cease to practice it without violating 
their avowed principles of Church government and discipline. When 
therefore they cry out "close communion-bigotry," against Baptist*' 
they condemn in others what they allow in themselveg. This little 
tract is calculated to do these inconsistent cavillers good, if they read 
it without prejudice, and allow the truth to have/re! -course. 

Brother Remington having been associated with the Methodists for 
Sinl? T y year u' as apubli0 teacher > of course s P e aks under- 
?«nn«?5 y / ? "111 \ he touches u P on their peculiar tenets : and I 
cannot but hope that his experience and example may be the menu 

the Gof et many L ° rd ' 8 Chadren Mo **» Ub ^7 ^ order at 

Yours, truly, 

SPENCER H. CONE. 

Messrs. L. Colby & Co. 

lw T HA If h ? d the pleasure of perusing, in manuscript, the valuable 

^Pmdo°Bantf,^L e t Steemed br ° ther ' theRev - S - Remington, entmed 
Pcedo-Baptists not open commumonists." I think the work is jus* 
what is wanted as a cheap tract for extensive and general circuit on 
in order to rebut the unfair and uncharitable accusation of bjoted 
exclusiveness so frequently employed against Baptists, in ordlr to 
operate upon the prejudices of the ignorant and experienced when 

TeiS^nt 7 nh f0 .^ e ° f i*™^ K? ** plain di ™tions of the New 
Testament, to .be buried with Christ in baptism," and to unite with 
our denomination. u^tc wuu 

I think that Brother Remington has conclusively shown, that while 
in maintaining the priority of what we regard as Scriptural Baptism' 
to Communion at the Lord's Table, we occupy only the common 
fyZ n i° { P<Kd t " Ba P tlst ^nominations ; in other respects some of 
these denominations are, at least so far as their creeds are concerned 
nTCt^R US!V6 , than 0l Vl elves - From the practical common sen4' 
*Ll7 * f Remin #° n ' andh,s long experience as a minister in high 
nn^L one of the most numerous and influential Pcedo Baptist de 
ESSS?* ^°T ° f "° man better qualified to prepare just such a 
tract o i this subject, as every pastor would be glad to have on hand 
for tht use of the honest and sincere inquirer aftlr truth ' 

JOHN DOWLINQ. 



HISTORY OF THE 

BAPTIST DENOMINATION 

IN AMERICA AND OTHER PARTS ON THE WORLD. 
BY DAVID BENEDICT. 

This work, the result of twenty-five years' 
labor on the part of the author is the only complete 
history of the denomination ever published. It 
traces the progress of Baptist sentiments from the 
beginning, — through all the forms and phases of 
the Church, — the rise of the Baptist denomination, 
distinctively, and its progress down to our own 
time. It consists of three general divisions, viz : 

I. FOREIGN BAPTISTS. 
II. AUTHORS ON BAPTISM. 
ILL AMERICAN BAPTISTS. 

It contains about 1,000 royal octavo pages of 
closely printed matter, and is embellished with tine 
steel engravings. 

RECOMMENDATIONS. 

From William R. Williams, D. D. 
The new edition of the History of the Baptists, by 
the Rev. Mr. Benedict, is, to a great extent, independ- 
ent of his earlier volumes, and seems to the subscriber, 
a work of much value. He has made large extracts 
from the history of the Mennonite Martyrs. From the 
great variety of the work which furnished these, the 
extracts will, to our churches, have, besides their own 
great intrinsic interest, the additional charm uf no- 
velty. As to the Baptists of the United States, he has 
with laborious fidelity compiled a mass of historical and 
statistic intelligence, no where else to be found : and 
which would, in the judgment of the subscriber, make 
his volume almost indispensable to every one of our Pas- 
tors, and abundantly deserving of the patronage and 
study of our churches. William R. Williams. 

New York, Feb., 1348. 

From Spencer H. Cone, D. D. 
From an examination of the work, I cordially unite 
^ithe above recommendation of Benedict's History 
«f the Baptists. Spencer H. Cone* 









THE BAPTIST LIBRARY, 

A RE-PUBLICATION OF STANDARD BAPTIST W ORF* 

EDITED BY 

Rev. Messrs. 0. G. SOMERS, W. R. WILLIAMS, and L. L. HILX* 

ONE VOLUME, ROYAL OCTAVO. 

Consisting of over 1 300 pages, and embracing the following works. 

Westlake's General View of Baptism. Wilson's Scripture Manual 
and Miscellany. Booth's Vindication of Baptists. Biography of 
Samuel Stillman, D D. Biography of Samuel Harris. Biography of 
Lewis Lunsford. Backus' History of the Baptists. The Watery War. 
Pengilly's Scripture Guile to Baptism. Fuller on Communion. 
Booth's Psedobaptism Examined. Dr. Cox's Reply to Dwight. Bun 
van's Grace Abounding. The Backslider: by Fuller. Hall on the 
Ministry. Hall's Address to Carey Hall on' Modern infidelity. Bun- 
yan's Holy War. Hall's Review of Foster. Tne Gospel Worthy of 
all Acceptation. Peter and Benjamin. Prof. Ripley's Review of Grii- 
fin on Communion Memoirs of Rev. Robert Hall Fuller on Sande- 
manianism. Memoirs of Rev. Samuel Pearc'e. Brantley on Circumci- 
sion. Covel on the American and Foreign Bible Society. Terms of 
Communion. The Practical Uses of Christian Baptism ; by Andrew 
Fuller. Expository Discourses on Genesis ; by Andrew Fuller. Deci- 
sion of Character ; by John Foster. The Travels of True Godliness ; 
By Benjamin Keach. Help to Zion's Travellers ; by Robert HaLL 
The Death of Legal Hope ; by Abraham Booth. Come and Welcome 
to Jesus Christ ; by John Bunyan. Biographical Sketches of Elijah 
Craig, Joseph Cook, Daniel Fristoe, Oliver Hart, Dutton Lane, James 
Manning, Richard Major, Isaac Backus, B_obert Carter. Silas Mercer, 
Joshua \lorse, Joseph Reese, John Waller, Peter Worden, John Wil 
liams, Flijah Baker, James Chiles, Lemuel Covel, Gardner Thurston, 
Jeremiah Walker, Saunders Walker, William Webber, Shubael 
Stearns, Eliakim Marshall, Benjamin Foster, Morgan Edwards, 
Daniel Marshall. 

" The Library is a deservedly popular work ; for it is a choice selec- 
tion from pious and talented productions. The writings of such men 
need no encomium. Most of them have long been favorably known. 
They have stood the test of time. It contains some rare and costly 
works ; some that are iittie known, yet highly prized by ail who have 
enjoyed the privilege of perusing them. All will see that the Library 
renders many good works accessible to thousands, who were before 
debarred this luxury The common people are invited to drink at 
these founts of information, which hitherto scholastic divines, oj 
learned ecclesiastics, have mainly appropriated to themselves. Here 
the humblest child of God may, if he choose, secure standard authors, 
for a trifle ; and bless himself with a fund of useful reading, unsur 
passed by any similar compilation in Christendom. We cordially 
approbate this publication. It merits a liberal patronage " 

[ Western Baptist Review 



MISS CHUBBUCK'S (N8W MBS. JUDSON,) 

lPEAdSTPIKBAlL SIP© EH IB 8. 

(revised editions.) 

CHARLES LINN, or How to Observe the Golden Rule 

ALLEN LUCAS, The Self-made Man. 

THE GREAT SECRET, or How to be Happy. 



Miss Chubbuck, the authoress, now Mrs. Judson, and 
better known as " Fanny Forrester," never wrote a line 
that was not pleasing and instructive. Combining these 
two qualities in an eminent degree in her productions, 
she has succeeded most admirably in winning her way to 
the hearts of her readers, and securing a high and worthy 
name in the temple of their praise. The work before us 
is worthy of her gifted pen. It is just what its title rep* 
resents it to be— the history of Allen Lucas, who by dint 
of his just views, honorable principles, and meritorious 
conduct, won his way to fame and honor. It should be 
read extensively. — Sat. Emporium. 



Charles Linn ought to be read audibly in every family 
once a year, for the benefit of both parents and children. 
It is a little book with great thoughts, exhibiting a rare 
knowledge of the human heart. -^Baptist Register, 



This book (Allen Lucas,) possesses undeniable merit 
The descriptive sketch with which it opens is of rare 
finish. The characters, though hardly more than out- 
lines, are clearly discriminated. Then it is of good moral 
tendency, and a safe book for the young reader.— -The 
Churchman. 



THE 



POWER OF ILLUSTRATION; 

AN F.LEMENT OF SUCCESS IN 

PREACHING AND TEACHING. 

BIT JOHN DOWLING-, D. D. 



u This is an admirable book, though small, and treats 
of a highly important subject, which yet has never, so 
far as we are aware, been handled before in a distinct 
treatise. Would that there were some law to compel 
every candidate for the ministry to possess this little 
volume ! We imagine that there would be less com- 
plaint of the dullness of sermons." — Boston Recorder. 

M We would recommend its careful perusal, not only 
to every clergyman and every Sabbath School teacher, 
but to every public speaker. No one, we think, can 
give it a reading without being convinced of its great 
advautage, not to say necessity, of illustration, in order to 
ensure success in teaching or preaching. 

' The writer attempts to — I. Explain the science of 
illustration, and specify the principal classes of analogies 
which it employs, with examples for the use of each. — 
II. What is meant by the pou-er of illustration, and 
gives some directions for its successful cultivation and 
improvement." — Alabama Baptist. 

'• Modifications have been made for the general benefit, 
and to adapt the principle to teachers of every gradation, 
including especially those of the Sabbath School. "The 
author has done a good service, by furnishing the preg- 
nant hints and significant examples, which will raise 
thought and incite to effort, to make the acquisition of 
the power of illustration." — Christian Mirror. 

" Dr. Dowling treats his subject con amore, and we 
hope, for goodness' sake, he may succeed in convincing 
a great many clergymen and other public speakers." 
— Christian Inquirer. 

" Every Minister of Jesus Christ's Gospel should be 
possessed of this work. It is the most complete instruc- 
tor of parabolical elocution that we have ever studied. 
The mechanical work of these welcomed volumes if 
rery neat and splendid."— Baptist Telegraph. 



— — ~ _ 

LEWIS COLBY'S PUBLICATIONS. 



THE LONDON APPRENTICE : 

AN AUTHENTIC NARRATIVE > 

WITH A PREFACE. 

BY W. H. PEARCE, 
Missionary from Calcutta. 

" I should be glad if my notice of this little work — ' The 
Happy Transformation'-^should induce numbers of young 
men to purchase and read it." — Rev. J. A. James 1 8 " Young 
Man from Home" 

Nothing can be more smtaole for young men leaving 
home, to engage in business. The work is especially in- 
* tended for the benefit of young persons, about to enter on, 
or already engaged in, the pursuit of business in cities and 
large towns. The narrative is also adapted for usefulness 
to persons of every age, and in the most varied circum- 
stances. It exhibits in striking colors the unsatisfactory 
nature, and the bitter consequences, even in this life, of 
what are falsely called " the pleasures" of youth* Em- 
bellished with engravings. 18mo. 31 cen^ 



THE WAY FOR A CHILD TO BE SAVED. 

This entertaining book, which has already had a wide 
circulation, can hardly fail of being a means of good to 
every child that reads it. 18mo. 31 cents. 



122 NASSAU-STREET, NEW-YORK. 

■ X 



FOR BIBLE CLASSES. 
ELEMENTS OF THEOLOGY ; 

OR, THE LEADING TOPICS OF CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 
PLAINLY AND SCRITTURALLY SET FORTH; WITH 
THE PRINCIPAL EVIDENCES OF DIVINE REVELA- 
TION CONCISELY STATED. 

WITH QUESTIONS, 

FOR THE USE OF BIBLE CLASSES, SEMINARIES OF LEARNING 
AND FAMILIES. 

By DANIEL HASCALL, A. M. 
The plan of the work is thus stated 'oy the author : — 

1. Alter a concise proof of the existence of God from creation, to se* 
forth the evidences oi a Divine Revelation contained in the Scriptures 
of the Old and New Testaments. 

2. The attributes of God, as delineated in the revelations which he 
has made of himself. 

3. The primitive and present character of man. 

4. The recovery of lost men. 

6. The agency of creatures connecte 1 with this recovery. 

6. What befalls man at and after death. 

These subjects are treated of in a series of brief essays, with ques 
tions at the close of each essaj or chapter. The whole is comprised 
in an ISmo of -260 pages. The style of the author is terse and surges 
tive. He just touches upon the leading thoughts in every subject 
treated of— puts the reader upon the right train of thought — and then 
leaves it for another. 

The book is very readable, and interesting to the solitary inquirer 
into the " elements" of religious truth; but judging from the ques- 
tions, the author designed it mainly as a text-book for instruction. 
Pastors will find it a suitable book to put into the hands of any in 
their charge, who may wish to form a class for the systematic study 
of the groundwork of our religion ; and Preceptors of Academies, who 
think that theological science should have a place amoug othei 
sciences in the education of youth, will find this book better adapted 
to their wants than anything which has been before published. 

" The author is a man of experience, soundness, piety, and learning 
in the topics of which the present work treats. His successful aim 
has been to give instruction in the most important branch of know- 
ledge—' the knowledge of God and of ourselves.' " 

[ Christian Reflector. 

" Its use among the young will, with the divine blessing, contribute 
to a sounder condition of our churches Topics relating to churcn 
order are omitted, and it may therefore be appropriately circulated 
among all evangelical denominations."— N. Y. Recorder. 



THE 

SABBATH SCHOOL MINSTREL, 

DESIGNED FOR SABBATH SCHOOLS, FAMILIES, AND 
SOCIAL MEETINGS. 

This collection of music and hymns has been made 
with especial reference to the wants of the Sabbath 
School. The style of the music is simple and devotional ; 
and while it will gratify those somewhat advanced in the 
science, it may be learned with facility by even the young- 
est scholar. The object has been to introduce as large a 
number of appropriate hymns as possible, varying in 
length and in measure ; and all adapted to the exer- 
cises of the Sabbath School, its Anniversaries, Cele 
brations, &c. 

13,000 copies have already been sold 

" This is a very good selection of hymns and music for 
Sabbath Schools and families. Both the poetry and melo 
dies are among the best for juvenile use extant." 

[Zion's Herald. 



" With many of the tunes in this collection we are fami- 
liar, and take pleasure in saying they are good." 

[Boston Miscellany. 

" We have looked over it with care, and are highly 
pleased with it. It is excellent, and admirably adapted 
to the purpose for which it is intended. The thirteenth 
thousand has already left the press, and we can recom- 
mend it with a good conscience, which is not the case in 
regard to some of the books that are sent us for examina- 
tion." [Lutheran Observer. 



" This little volume seems well adapted to advance the 
knowledge and taste for music, and this is one of the great 
feenefrt* of Sabbath Scnools." 

J. T. Headley 



r- 



lewis colby's publications. 



FULLER AND WAYLAND ON SLAVERY 



DOMESTIC SLAVERY 

CONSIDERED AS A SCRIPTURAL INSTITUTION ; 
In a Correspondence between the 

REV. RICHARD FULLER, D. D., 

OF BEAUFORT, S. C, 

AND THE 

PEV. FRANCIS WAYLAND, D. D., 

OF PROVIDENCE, R. I, 



This is a standard text-book upon the subject. 

Let no one say, I have read enovgh on this subject. It 
fills a place never before occupied — a calm, candid, and 
very able discussion of the subject in a Christian-like 
manner. No one should be without it, as it will long be 
a book of reference. 

" This is the best specimen of controversial writing on 
slavery, or any olher subject, we have ever read. The 
parties engaged in it are men of high distinction, and pre- 
eminently qualified for the tasjt ; and the kind and Chris- 
tian spirit that pervades the entire work, is a beautiful 
commentary on the power of the gospel. This discus- 
sion is oomplete, and whoever reads it need read nothing 
more, to enable him to form a correct view of the subject 
in question." — Lutheran Observer. 

It is handsomely executed, and put at a low price. 50 
cents-— 254 pages, 18 mo. 

122 NASSAU-ST , NEW-YORK. 



LEWIS COLBY & COIVfPANY, 

122 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK, 

PUBLISH A GREAT VARIETY OF 

CHOICE AND VALUABLE 

SABBATH SCHOOL BOOKS, 

Uniformly bound, in neat half-roan, and generally illustrate* 
with fine wood Engravings. 

NEW BOOKS OF APPROVED CHARACTER, 

ARE CONTINUALLY BEING ISSUED. 

And dealers in S. S. Books, may be supplied upon advan- 
tageous terms. Such as reside at a distance and have not 
means of making selections, may depend upon great care be- 
ing taken, and upon receiving new and perfect copies. 

Wishing to replenish their libraries, may rely unon having 
their orders carefully attended to. Orders from tne country 
should be accompanied by a list of such books as are already 
on hand, together with the amount to be expended- 

$qhCatalogues furnished gratis upon application. 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL MINSTREL, 

DESIGNED FOR SABBATH SCHOOLS, FAMILIES AND 
SOCIAL MEETINGS. 

This collection o! music and hymns has been made with 
especial reference to the wants of the Sabbath School. 
The style of the music is simple and devotional \ and while it 
will gratify those somewhat advanced in the science, it may 
be learned with facility by even the youngest scholar. The 
object has been to introduce as large a number of appropriate 
hvmns as possible, varying in length and in measure ; and 
ill adapted to the exercises of the Sabbath School, its Anni- 
versaries, Celebrations, &c. 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process 
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VALUABLE WORKS 

PUBLISHED BY 

L. COLBY & COMPANY. 122 NASSAU STREET. N. Y. 



THE SCRIPTURE TEXTBOOK AND TREASURY, 

Arranged for the use of Miueters, Sunday School Teachers 
and Families, -with Maps and Engravings. Forming a 
complete Index to the Doctrines, Duties, and Instruc- 
tions of the Sacred Volume. 

THE ELEMENTS OF THEOLOGY; 

Or, the Leading Topics of Christian Theology, Plainly and 
Scripturally set forth, with the Principles of Divine Re- 
velation concisely stated, with Questions ; for the use of 
Families and Bible Classes, and Seminaries of Learning. 
By Dan i itn Bascall, A. M. 

THE TRINITY AND MODERN ARIANISM: 

A Scriptural Defence of the Doctrine of the Trinity; or a 
Check to M odern Arianism. 

BIBLE SOCIETIES. 

A Sketch of the Origin, and some Particulars oft* a Histo- 
ry oi the most eminent Bible Societies, with a more de- 
tailed account of the American and the American and 
Foreign. By William H. Wyckoff. 

jFamxi> jFovestev'5 practical 3btorles. 

(revised EDITIONS.) 

CH ARLE S LINN; 

OR, HOW TO OBSERVE TH ffi GOLDEN RDLI. 

ALLEN LUCAS, 

THE SELF-MADE MAN. 

THE GREAT SECRET; 

OR, HOV7 TO BE HAPPY. 

Miss Chubbuck, the authoress, now Mrs. JuJson, and belter known »• 
" Fann^v Forester," never wrote a line that was not pleasing and inttruc- 
tive. Combining these two qualities in an eminent degree in her produc- 
tions, »he lias succeeded most admirably in winning her way to the heart? 
of ln»r readers and securing a high and worthy name in the temple of their 
praise. — Sut. Emporium. 

THE SABBATH SCHOOL MINSTREL. 
Fourteen thousand copiee of thia popular collection of'Tunti and Hymni 

have already been sold. 



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